Actor Steve Coogan and presenter Carol Vorderman have backed Liberal Democrat pledges to reform how the UK's general elections are run.
Actor Steve Coogan and presenter Carol Vorderman have backed Liberal Democrat pledges to reform how the UK's general elections are run.
I think this is why the Lib Dems do so well in by-elections but struggle at general elections. When they're only fighting one election, they can put all that local knowledge to good use and make a really tailored campaign that resonates with the electorate in that constituency. But in a general election, it's much harder to put across a broad, national-level campaign, but that's what general election campaigning has to be, because you have to speak to the whole country not just a small subset of it.
It's a shame, because I actually think they're a very under-appreciated option. They've struggled with their branding after the coalition, and I think to an extent it was unfair given that they were very much the junior partner in the coalition and didn't have as much power as people think they did.