‘It’s the Lib Dems or Reform’: Ed Davey launches party’s Local Elections campaign
BATTLEGROUND: Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, left, playing chess with Lib Dem city council leader Mike Ross
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
Liberal Democrat knight Sir Ed Davey launched his party’s Local Elections campaign in Hull today with a bold move, saying “it’s a two-way fight between the Liberal Democrats and Reform”.
Beneath warm spring sunshine in Pearson Park, the party leader played chess with Lib Dem city council leader Mike Ross before outlining the party’s strategy ahead of the Hull City Council elections on May 7.
And he said the only way to stop the “nastiness” of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party was to vote for the Lib Dems.
“This election is one of the most important local elections I can remember,” he said. “With the threat of Reform everywhere in our country we have to send a message that Nigel Farage’s party does not represent true British values.
“We don’t want his divisive Trump-style politics and in many areas, here in Hull, I’d say in Sheffield, in places like Newcastle and Gateshead, if you want to stop the nastiness of Reform it’s the Liberal Democrat vote that’s the most powerful.”
MESSAGE: Sir Ed Davey, third from right, giving an interview in Pearson Park
The Lib Dems, who have been in power at the Guildhall since 2022, are defending 11 seats at next month’s elections and Labour eight. But with the Lib Dems having a majority of just one seat the outcome of the election is on a knife edge. The battlefield is also more complicated and diverse than in recent years, with Reform and the Green Party both fielding candidates in all seats for the first time.
Sir Ed said Labour’s poor result in the city in last year’s inaugural Hull and East Yorkshire mayoral election – it fell by nearly 55 per cent from the Local Elections in 2024 – showed that many Labour voters were willing to back the Lib Dems if it meant stopping Reform.
Luke Campbell topped the mayoral poll in Hull with 18,584 votes, just ahead of Councillor Ross on 17,169, on his way to winning the mayoralty for Reform. Labour’s Margaret Pinder was a distant third on 7,199.
Sir Ed said: “I’ve been talking to our campaigners who’ve been on the doorsteps and they’ve been getting a very strong, warm welcome from people who recognise that Liberal Democrats have made a really positive difference to the city. When they elect local Liberal Democrats to the council they get a local champion who will listen to them and act for them. So far the evidence is very positive.
“I’ve been to Hull many times and what’s interesting this time is the Labour vote is just collapsing and it’s no longer a fight between the Liberal Democrats and Labour, it’s a fight between the Liberal Democrats and Reform, and we see no evidence of the Conservatives or Green here actually; it’s clearly a two-way fight now between the Liberal Democrats and Reform.
ALL TO PLAY FOR: Lib Dem city council leader Mike Ross, right, is hoping to keep the opposition in check at next month’s Local Elections
“And that’s posing a challenge for some Labour voters who don’t want Reform – they’re realising they need to switch to the Liberal Democrats to stop Nigel Farage’s party here.”
The Lib Dem leader also suggested some people who elected Mayor Campbell were “pretty disappointed” by his first year in office.
He said: “Because the mayor in Hull and East Yorkshire was elected as a Reform mayor a year ago people have actually seen Reform in action and many have been pretty disappointed. They say that Luke Campbell is missing in action, they don’t see him, he hasn’t done anything … and some of that disappointment in Reform is turning to a bit of anger as well.”
Sir Ed also suggested Mr Farage’s support for US President Donald Trump and his policies – particularly his “idiotic” war against Iran – were another cause for concern about Reform, especially for people worried about the cost of living.
“I think also in the last year they’ve seen Nigel Farage in his true colours,” he said. “Nigel Farage backs Donald Trump and cheerleads for Donald Trump at every moment and people have seen Donald Trump’s divisive, nasty politics, they’ve seen how Donald Trump went into this idiotic war in Iran, [that] has put up petrol prices and diesel prices and people’s mortgage costs, energy prices, and they are saying look, if Reform is about Donald Trump and about these disastrous policies that hit our pockets we don’t want any of that, thank you very much.
“So increasingly, while it is a Liberal Democrat versus Reform fight, we are really grateful to former Labour voters who are backing us to stop Reform, and grateful to Reform voters who have seen the light and are realising that Reform isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”