Lib Dems eye Labour-held cities as they target ‘seats not votes’

Published

6 days ago

August 30, 2025

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They demolished most of the “blue wall” at the general election, and now the Lib Dems are eyeing up Labour voters.

Strategists see an opportunity in younger people who, over the course of this parliament, may be priced out of cities and into commuter belt areas as they seek to get on the housing ladder or start a family.

Insiders say the plan is to focus more on the cost of living to shift the party’s appeal beyond the traditional southern heartlands.

“There’s a key opportunity to target people who were 30 at the last election who over the next five years might find themselves moving out of London, to areas like Surrey, Guildford,” a senior party source told Sky News.

“We also need to be better at making a case for a liberal voice in urban areas. We have not told enough of a story on the cost of living.

“We need a liberal voice back in the cities – areas like Liverpool, where there is strong support at a council level that we can use as a base to build on.”

Liverpool is a traditional Labour heartland but in January lost its first local authority by-election there in 27 years to the Lib Dems.

Carl Cashman, the leader of the Lib Dems on the city council, says it’s a result that shows the potential to make gains in areas where the party came third and fourth at the general election.

“One of the cases I have been making to the national party is that Liverpool should be a number one target.

“We are almost at the end of the road when it comes to the Conservatives, so we need to start looking at areas like Liverpool,” he said, adding that Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle could also be ripe for the taking.

However, the party faces a challenge of making a case for liberalism against the rising tide of populism.

Sir Ed Davey, the party leader, is trying to position himself as the only politician who is not afraid of holding Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to account.

He has recently unveiled a plan to cut energy bills by changing how renewable projects are paid for and says he will boycott Donald Trump’s state dinner. It is these green, internationalist policies that insiders hope can hoover up support of remaining Tory moderates unhappy with the direction of Kemi Badenoch’s party and progressive voters who think Labour is more of the same.

However, strategists admit it is difficult to cut through on these issues in a changing media landscape, “when you’re either viral or you’re not”.

‘Silly stunts’ here to stay

Farage has no such problem, which Davey has blamed on a national media weighted too heavily in favour of the Reform UK leader, given the size of his party (he has just four MPs compared to the Liberal Democrats’ 72).

But the two parties have very different media strategies. This week, on the same day Farage held a Trump-style press conference to announce his immigration deportation plans, with a Q&A for journalists after, the Liberal Democrat leader went to pick strawberries in Somerset to highlight the plight of farmers facing increased inheritance tax.

Some Lib Dems have questioned whether the “silly stunts” that proved successful during the general election are past their shelf life, but strategists say there will be no fundamental change to that, insisting Sir Ed is the “genuine nice guy” he comes across as and that offers something different.

The Lib Dems ultimately see their strength as lying not in the “airwaves war” but the “ground war” – building support on the doorstep at a local level and then turning that into seats.

“Our strategy is seats, not votes. Theirs is votes, not seats,” said the party source, suggesting Farage’s divisiveness might backfire under a first past the post system where people typically vote against the party they disklike the most.

“The next election won’t be about who is saying the meanest things.”

‘Don’t underestimate us’

There is broad support within the party behind that strategy. Cllr Cashman said a greater use of social media could help attract a younger demographic, along with putting forward “really fundamental, powerful liberal ideas” on issues such as housing.

But he said Davey is “never going to do the controversial things Farage does”.

“The way we reach people, the traditional campaigning, is what makes us strong. Just because we are not always on the airwaves, do not underestimate us.”

For Liberal Democrat peer and pollster Dr Mark Pack, there are reasons to be confident. On Friday, the party won a local council by-election in Camden, north London – “Sir Keir Starmer’s backyard” – with a swing from Labour to the Lib Dems of 19%.

It is these statistics that the party is far more focused on than national vote share – with Labour’s misfortunes opening an opportunity to strategically target areas where voters are more likely to switch.

“One of the lessons we have learned from the past is that riding high in opinion polls doesn’t translate into seats.

“We are really focused on winning seats with the system in front of us. There is a route to success by concentrating on and expanding on what we have been good at.”

Politics

Tories repeat calls for Rayner to resign after lawyers claim they did not provide tax advice

Published

2 hours ago

September 4, 2025

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Tories repeat calls for Rayner to resign after lawyers claim they did not provide tax advice

The Conservatives have repeated calls for Angela Rayner to resign after a legal firm she used said it did not provide her with tax advice in a row over underpaid stamp duty.

Party leader Kemi Badenoch said more “damning evidence” had come to light regarding the deputy leader’s tax affairs, which is now subject to an investigation by the prime minister’s independent ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus.

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The Daily Telegraph reported that Verrico & Associates, a conveyancing firm that handled the purchase of her £800,000 flat in Hove, East Sussex, did not in fact give tax or trust advice to Ms Rayner – and that they believed they had been made “scapegoats” in the political row.

Joanna Verrico, the managing director, told The Telegraph: “We acted for Ms Rayner when she purchased the flat in Hove. We did not and never have given tax or trust advice. It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for.

“The stamp duty for the Hove flat was calculated using HMRC’s own online calculator, based on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner. That’s what we used, and it told us we had to pay £30,000 based on the information provided to us. We believe that we did everything correctly and in good faith. Everything was exactly as it should be.

“We probably are being made scapegoats for all this, and I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it. We are not an inexperienced firm, but we’re not qualified to give advice on trust and tax matters and we advise clients to seek expert advice on these.”

Sky News has approached representatives for Ms Rayner for comment as well Verrico & Associates.

The deputy prime minister, who is also the housing secretary, has been under scrutiny after the newspaper claimed she avoided £40,000 in stamp duty on the flat in Hove by removing her name from the deeds of another property in Greater Manchester.

Ms Rayner said she sold her stake in her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne to a trust that was set up to provide for her teenage son, who has lifelong disabilities – meaning she did not technically own that home when she purchased the one in Hove, and so was not subject to the higher rate of stamp duty that applies to second homes.

On Tuesday Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy claimed she made an honest mistake owing to her “complex” living situation and that lawyers initially advised her she only owed the basic rate of stamp duty for the Hove property.

In an interview with Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Ms Rayner became tearful as she claimed she received incorrect tax advice and spoke to her family about “packing it all in”.

However, following subsequent media reports, Ms Rayner sought further legal advice on Monday this week which advised her that the higher rate of stamp duty was in fact due on her East Sussex flat.

The deputy prime minister has claimed she made an honest mistake as lawyers initially advised her she only owed the basic rate of stamp duty when she bought a flat in Hove in May.

On the statement from Verrico & Associates, Ms Badenoch said: “This is yet more damning evidence that Angela Rayner has not been honest with the British public.

“From the start we’ve had nothing but excuses, deflections and lies. Enough is enough.

“How many final straws can there be for Angela Rayner? She must resign or Keir Starmer must finally find the backbone to sack her.”

Sir Keir Starmer has so far said he would not be drawn on Ms Rayner’s political future, but said he would “of course” act on the findings of Sir Laurie who will look into whether she broke ministerial rules.

In an interview with the BBC, Sir Keir said: “There’s a clear procedure. I strengthened that procedure. I am expecting a result pretty quickly.

“I do want it to be comprehensive … and then of course I will act on whatever the report is that’s put in front of me.”

Politics

SEC’s agenda proposes crypto safe harbors, broker-dealers reforms

Published

4 hours ago

September 4, 2025

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SEC’s agenda proposes crypto safe harbors, broker-dealers reforms

The proposed rule changes potentially affecting SEC guidelines on broker-dealers, custody and reporting could allow crypto companies to operate in the US with less oversight.

Politics

Fate of ‘Red Queen’ Rayner in hands of ‘quango king’ baronet

Published

5 hours ago

September 4, 2025

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Fate of 'Red Queen' Rayner in hands of 'quango king' baronet

The backgrounds of Angela Rayner and Sir Laurie Magnus – the sleaze watchdog who holds her fate in his hands – couldn’t be more different.

Labour’s “Red Queen” is a working-class council house girl who got pregnant at 16. He’s an old Etonian “quango king”, a City grandee and a pillar of the establishment.

He’s so posh he wasn’t awarded his knighthood in the usual way by the Monarch after being nominated by 10 Downing Street. He’s a baronet whose title is hereditary.

But though Sir Laurie’s a proper toff, he’s no pushover and he doesn’t waste time. In 2023 his investigation into former Tory minister Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs took just six days.

Sir Laurie concluded that Mr Zahawi’s conduct had fallen below what was expected from a minister. So the then PM Rishi Sunak sacked him for a “serious breach of the ministerial code”.

This year, Labour minister Tulip Siddiq quit after Sir Laurie said she should have been more alert to “potential reputational risks” of ties to her aunt in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.

That inquiry took eight days, so might Sir Laurie’s Angela Rayner probe take about a week? Perhaps, though it has been suggested he’s due to go on holiday on Saturday. So could his report come before then?

Sir Laurie was appointed by Mr Sunak more than eight weeks after he became PM. At the time, there were claims that he was struggling to find a candidate.

That was because the two previous holders of the post, veteran mandarin Sir Alex Allan and former Royal courtier Sir Christopher Geidt, both quit after disagreements with Boris Johnson.

Sir Alex quit in 2020 after finding former home secretary Priti Patel guilty of bullying. But then Mr Johnson declared that she had not breached the ministerial code.

Sir Christopher, a former private secretary to the Queen, quit in June 2022 after concluding Mr Johnson may have broken ministerial rules over party-gate.

So Mr Sunak turned to Sir Laurie, a former merchant banker who served on half a dozen quangos and whose long business career involved links with disgraced retail tycoon Sir Philip Green and the late tycoon Robert Maxwell.

There was immediately controversy because Mr Sunak refused to give Sir Laurie the power to launch his own investigations into allegations or ministerial wrong-doing. That changed when Sir Keir Starmer became PM last year.

But before then, Sir Laurie couldn’t launch his own inquiry into the conduct of Dominic Raab over bullying allegations or Suella Braverman over claims of leaking and ignoring legal advice over asylum.

The role of independent adviser on ministerial standards, to give Sir Laurie his official title, was created by Tony Blair in 2006. Ministers can refer themselves for investigation, as Tulip Siddiq and Angela Rayner both did.

Why was Sir Laurie chosen? A senior Square Mile insider told Sky News: “Laurie Magnus is very much a member of the City’s great and the good.”

Sir Laurence Henry Philip Magnus, 3rd Baronet is the third in a baronetcy that dates back to 1917, when it was awarded to an ancestor who represented London University in the House of Commons.

His quango CV includes the chairmanship of Historic England, a former trustee of the conservation charity the Landmark Trust, ex-chair of the National Trust, membership of the Culture Recovery Fund, a trustee of English Heritage Trust and deputy chair of the All Churches Trust.

As Historic England boss, Sir Laurie entered the row over the tearing down of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, claiming such statues should not be removed but have “counter-memorials” placed alongside them.

Besides his quango roles, Sir Laurie remains a major figure in the City, as a senior adviser at investment banking group Evercore and chairing two FTSE 250 listed investment trusts.

Which means that the class divide between the old Etonian City grandee and the former shop steward and champion of workers’ rights whose fate is in his hands couldn’t be greater.