Will the Lib Dem manifesto take voters for a ride again?

The Liberal Democrats look forward to general elections more than most parties, even in bad times.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Their manifesto, a programme for a Lib Dem government that will not be formed this time round, contains lots of ideas, is rather bolder than their main rivals, and is enjoying some publicity.

Thanks to the Representation of the People Act, the party gets much more broadcast coverage at election time, and even the press, still dominated by Tory-supporting interests, gives them some glancing attention.

This time they also seem to be enjoying themselves, with leader Ed Davey’s unprecedented programme of attention-grabbing stunts. Davey says each has a message attached – paddleboarding to highlight water pollution, tennis to promote new national parks, and so on.

Still, their political fortunes are a strange conundrum; at about 10 per cent in the polls, they’re set to win a lower share of the vote than in 2019, but many more seats.

There’s even an outside chance that Davey could be the next leader of the opposition. So what exactly is going on, and what do the Lib Dems want?

Do the Lib Dems still want to rejoin the European Union?

Not quite. A commitment to join, remain in, or (post the 2016 referendum) rejoin the EU and the euro single currency zone has been a feature of every Liberal (and SDP) manifesto since 1955 – a distinctive stance. It is no longer there but they are prepared to go as far as rejoining the EU single market.