Sir Vince Cable MP: May's local elections should be about housing, social care & the environment, not Brexit

On this occasion Brexit will inevitably colour voting preferences. The Conservatives will suffer because they are seen to be badly led and divided over Brexit. And many Conservative activists, who are more radical and pro-Brexit in their motivation, will not be willing to stuff envelopes and deliver leaflets or man polling stations. Labour has a similar problem but most of these elections are not in the Labour heartlands of big cities like London and Birmingham, so they have less at stake. For the Liberal Democrats, these elections are a good opportunity. We have generally been doing well in local by-elections. Our results last May were positive with 75 net gains. We have ground to be retrieved from disastrous elections in the Coalition years. And where we have control of local councils, they have a broadly favourable reputation. We stand to benefit from a swing from the Conservatives. So we have put a lot of effort in, and I have personally been going round to support council candidates from Yeovil to York, whenever I can escape the Westminster bubble and our Brexit-preoccupied Parliament.