Five things we learned at Lib Dem conference

The Lib Dems positioned themselves as the antidote to Reform’s toxic populism and Labour’s overcautiousness

Having been to Reform conference earlier this month, where members booed and sneered at so much as a mention of a Labour minister’s name, the Lib Dem conference was a breath of fresh air. Sure, they did their fair share of bashing the Tories’ awful record on the economy and immigration, and criticised Labour for not being radical enough. At their famous annual Glee Club event, they sang songs comparing Reform to ‘the fash’ and true to tradition, they belted out their sweary song about Tony Blair.  

But the mood was good-natured. The Lib Dems are optimistic, presenting themselves as a party that wins by tackling problems head-on, rather than sniping at rivals or targeting vulnerable groups of people. 

Here are a few things that we learnt at their 2025 autumn conference in Bournemouth.

1. The Lib Dems are on the up

Buoyed by their success at the local elections in England in May, where the Lib Dems elected more councillors than either Labour or the Tories and now control more councils than the Tories, they want to turn that success into national gains. 

In council by-elections where the Lib Dems and Reform have emerged as the top two parties, the Lib Dems are winning around three-quarters of these contests. Party sources also highlight their rising vote share, up from 7–8% four years ago to around 14% today, and point to leader Ed Davey’s relative popularity. According to YouGov, 27% of voters view him favourably against 33% who have an unfavourable opinion of him, while Nigel Farage is seen positively by three in ten Britons but negatively by 61%. They’re still focused on taking seats from the Tories, but will also be looking to take advantage of the fall in support for Labour. 

2. Taking on Farage and Trump

In his punchy closing speech to conference, Davey made it clear the Lib Dems are taking the fight to Nigel Farage. He warned conference that if Farage wins power, he could make Britain into a version of Trump’s America. Given Farage jets off to the US almost every month to bat for Team Trump, Davey has a point. The line from his speech that caused the most alarm among the media was Davey’s claim that Farage might relax gun laws, potentially forcing schoolchildren to do mass-shooting drills. While it isn’t current Reform policy, when asked by a journalist whether he would consider it, Farage didn’t rule it out and even joked it was a “good idea”. Davey warned that a Reform government would scrap the NHS and trample on people’s rights and freedoms by pulling the UK out of the ECHR. Keir Starmer could take a lesson or two from Davey’s attack on Reform. 

3. ‘Humane’ asylum policy

Somewhat surprisingly, one of the first policies the Lib Dems launched at their four-day conference was on the asylum system. Lisa Smart MP, the Lib Dems’ Home Affairs spokesperson, told journalists that the government should use emergency wartime powers to clear the asylum backlog and reduce the use of hotels. 

Smart said that the Lib Dems want to see Nightingale processing centres set up and increase the number of case workers processing asylum applications from 2,000 to 4,000. Sky News reported that the Lib Dems had “toughened up” their stance on asylum policy. Smart insisted that their policy is a “humane plan”, while Davey said we must treat asylum seekers with compassion. 

Left Foot Forward spoke to a Lib Dem policy spokesperson at conference, who said that when they were drawing up their asylum policy, Davey “made it clear that it couldn’t be a kneejerk reaction to Farage”. The spokesperson said that the party will take a “compassionate” approach and won’t follow in Labour or the Tories footsteps by parroting Reform. However, he added that immigration and the asylum system was no longer an issue the Lib Dems could dodge.

4. Standing up for Palestine

In the middle of his Q&A session, Ed Davey told conference that the UK government had just announced its decision to recognise the state of Palestine, which was met with huge applause. “I think we should be really proud,” he said, “we’ve campaigned for that for nearly a decade.”

However, he said “There’s a lot more to do, people are still getting killed, children are still dying.” Most recently, Davey boycotted Trump’s state banquet, to put pressure on Labour to raise the issue of Gaza with him. In his closing conference speech, Davey made clear: “What is unfolding in Gaza is a genocide. And the United Kingdom must do all it can to make Netanyahu stop.”

Speaking to Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt at conference, she said that the Lib Dems will continue to push for sanctions and to stop selling arms to Israel.

5. Challenging the right’s war on renewables

The Lib Dems were scathing of the Tories’ decision to scrap key climate policies while they were in government and criticised Kemi Badenoch for being “shamelessly locked in a race to the bottom with Reform UK” on net zero. Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper unveiled a new policy, pledging up to £10 billion in loans for energy efficiency initiatives for homeowners and businesses. 

Cooper said the policy would cost £2 billion in government-backed guarantees, and would be paid for through a windfall tax on banks that have profited from quantitative easing. 

Cooper said the scheme would drive down bills and support “energy security”, while warning against Nigel Farage’s false claims that renewables raise prices. The party used conference to show it is taking a lead on climate action and challenging the fossil fuel lobby’s myths.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward