Cooper rules out Lib Dem leadership tilt and backs Davey

Daisy Cooper has ruled out any future bid for the Liberal Democrat leadership and insisted the party stays strong under Sir Ed Davey after two frontbench resignations fuelled talk of a contest.

The deputy leader told a press conference the Lib Dems were going “from strength to strength” under Sir Ed, even as reports swirled of internal frustration at the lack of progress since the 2024 election that delivered a record 72 MPs.

Witney MP Charlie Maynard quit as a Lib Dem Treasury spokesman earlier this month, days after Mid Sussex MP Alison Bennett, a former care and carers spokeswoman, also stood down. Neither has publicly explained the departures, though Mr Maynard is reported to have asked parliamentary colleagues to back a vote of no confidence in the leader.

Asked about MPs losing faith in Sir Ed while the party lags behind Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK in the polls, Ms Cooper was blunt. “Ed is our most successful leader ever in the history of our party,” she said. “And the last general election proved that we have been underestimated time and time and time again… for as long as we have first-past-the-post, the national polls do not translate into winning seats, and we have proven that under Ed Davey’s leadership we can transfer votes into seats like no other political party.”

She added that retaining those seats and winning more at the next election remained the goal, and that the party would “continue to go from strength to strength.”

Britain’s voters have already shown they reward parties that talk straight about borders, bills and who runs the country. A third-place finish in Westminster means little if the polls then freeze and Reform UK keeps eating into the space once claimed by protest politics. Soft internationalist messaging that ducks the hard choices on sovereignty will not close that gap.

Ms Cooper suggested the Lib Dems’ “environmentalist, internationalist” platform was getting less attention on social media, where “a lot of the conversation is happening,” because “algorithms” favoured extreme politics. “We’re not going to adopt an extreme position just to get the online clicks, and I think people will appreciate that,” she said.

Polls stuck while Reform UK advances

The Lib Dems became the third largest party in Westminster at the last election but have gained little ground since. The latest YouGov survey put the party on 12 per cent – the same share as in 2024 – while Reform UK continues to set the pace on the issues that decide seats outside the old Lib Dem heartlands.

Evening Standard reported the resignations and the leadership speculation that followed. Cooper’s intervention is meant to close the row and keep Sir Ed in place. Whether that steadies the parliamentary party is another matter. Two spokespeople have already walked. Colleagues were sounded out about confidence in the leader. The national numbers have not moved.

What happens next is straightforward. The Lib Dems must defend the seats they took in 2024 and try to add more under first-past-the-post. Cooper says that is still the plan and that Davey remains the man to deliver it. The polls, and the voters watching Reform UK, will decide if that claim holds.

Original source: Evening Standard