'Election of consolidation' for Lib Dems
Ming Campbell says he is not disappointed by election results
Friday, 05, May 2006 12:00
Yesterday's council polls in England were "an election of consolidation" for the Liberal Democrats, the party's leader has insisted.
Menzies Campbell said he was "not downhearted" about the results, which saw the party gain control of just one council overall, and highlighted how they had now forced Labour into third place in terms of the national share of the vote.
Analysis by the BBC suggests the Lib Dems secured the equivalent of 27 per cent of the national vote in yesterday's polls, compared to 26 per cent for Labour and 40 per cent for the Conservatives.
"I think if in January, in the middle of that rather turbulent period for us, I'd said to you when the local elections are over we'll have beaten the government in share of the popular vote and we'll have about the same number of councillors, then you might have thought that a rather surprising prediction," he told Today
"We've done extremely well in some parts of the country, for example taking Richmond upon Thames from the Conservatives, making 18 gains from Labour in places like Brent.
"There's no doubt that our results have been mixed but I'm not in any way downhearted by these results."
He acknowledged the Lib Dems had begun to gain ground under former leader Charles Kennedy, but insisted he was entitled to a little more than the nine weeks he has been leader before his personal performance was assessed.
"The point is this, this wasn't a test for me, it was a test for the party. It was a test for the party after the earlier part of this year and I think we've come through this test," Sir Menzies insisted.
The Liberal Democrats lost control of the London borough of Islington, something the party leader admitted was "disappointing", but took heart from the fact that this had gone to no overall control.
Conservative leader David Cameron, for whom yesterday's elections were also his first major test, has welcomed his party's "strong results", which saw them gain 234 seats and take control of a further ten councils, many of them in London.
But this morning Sir Menzies insisted the Tories were still failing to make any impact in Liverpool or Newcastle, whereas the Lib Dems were the party "of the whole country".