Liberal Democrats (UK)

The **Liberal Democrats**, often shortened to **Lib Dems**, is a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. The party was founded in 1988 from a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. It was the third-largest party in the House of Commons from 1992 to 2015 before it was surpassed by the Scottish National Party and it has been again since 2024. The party was in a coalition government with the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2015. It has been led by Ed Davey since 2020.

The Liberal Democrats are strong supporters of the European Union, as well as environmentalism and they are in favour of creating a new British House of Commons which is elected using proportional representation. They also disagree with Britain being a part of conflicts like the Iraq War. The party also promotes social liberalism and has long supported LGBTQ+ rights.

The party has 72 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons, 84 out of 783 seats in the House of Lords, 16 out of 73 British seats in the European Parliament, 5 out of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 1 out of 60 seats in the Welsh Assembly.

In elections, the party usually gets the most votes in places like northern Scotland, south-west London, south-west England and mid-Wales. Members of the party are mostly more middle-class people who went to university.

## Policies

**Most** Liberal Democrats believe in the following things:
- The House of Commons should be elected using proportional representation.
- There should be elections held for the House of Lords.
- There should be more forms of renewable energy as well as cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

## Former party leaders

- Paddy Ashdown (July 1988 – August 1999)
- Charles Kennedy (August 1999 – January 2006)
- Menzies Campbell (January 2006 – October 2007)
- _Vince Cable (October 2007 – December 2007)_ *
- Nick Clegg (December 2007 – May 2015)
- Tim Farron (July 2015 – June 2017)
- Vince Cable (July 2017 – July 2019)
- Jo Swinson (July 2019 – December 2019)

Asterisk (*) means that this person was an interim leader, meaning he was just standing in as leader because the previous leader resigned.

## Other websites

- Liberal Democrats' official website
- Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Welsh Liberal Democrats
- London Assembly Liberal Democrats
- Liberal Democrat History Group
- An archive of Liberal/SDP/Liberal Democrat electoral manifestos from 1900–present
- Guardian Unlimited Politics: Liberal Democrats
- Lib Dem Blogs, an aggregator of Liberal Democrat blogs
- Humanist and Secularist Liberal Democrats  / HSLD's page on the party's official website

## Infobox (political party)

- **name**: Liberal Democrats
- **colorcode**: #ff6400
- **abbreviation**: Lib Dems
- **leader**: Ed Davey
- **leader1 title**: Deputy Leader
- **leader1 name**: Daisy Cooper
- **leader2 title**: President
- **leader2 name**: Mark Pack
- **leader3 title**: Lords Leader
- **leader3 name**: Richard Newby, Baron Newby, Lord Newby
- **leader5 title**: CEO
- **leader5 name**: Mike Dixon
- **merger**: Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party
 Social Democratic Party (UK), Social Democratic Party
- **headquarters**: 8–10 Great George Street
 London
 SW1P 3AE
- **youth wing**: Young Liberals (United Kingdom), Young Liberals
- **wing1 title**: LGBT wing
- **wing1**: LGBT+ Liberal Democrats
- **membership year**: 2023
- **ideology**: Liberalism
Social liberalism
Pro-Europeanism
- **position**: Centrism, Centre to Centre-left politics, centre-left
- **european**: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
- **international**: Liberal International
- **colours**: Orange
- **slogan**: "Build a Brighter Future."
- **anthem**: "The Land (song), The Land"
- **seats1 title**: House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons
- **seats2 title**: House of Lords
- **seats3 title**: London Assembly
- **seats4 title**: Scottish Parliament
- **seats5 title**: National Assembly for Wales, Welsh Assembly
- **seats6 title**: Local government in the United Kingdom, Local government
- **seats10 title**: Directly elected mayors in England and Wales, Directly elected mayors
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **blank1 title**: Governing body
- **blank1**: Federal Board (Liberal Democrats), Federal Board
- **blank2 title**: State parties
- **blank2**: English Liberal Democrats
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Welsh Liberal Democrats
- **affiliation1 title**: Sister party
- **affiliation1**: Alliance Party of Northern Ireland