Being a Lib Dem is frequently not an attractive proposition: electoral underperformance, bar charts, and iridescent orange diamonds aren’t exactly sexy (not even saved by Gail’s). Yet July 4th made the many years of opposition, relegated below even the SNP, and the hours spent campaigning to change that worth it.

A new tide of orange has swept onto the benches of the House of Commons. Not that you would particularly be aware given the media and political establishment’s two party narrative and fanatic obsession with Reform. This has sullied just quite how astonishing the result actually is.

In 2015, the Lib Dems were obliterated. We didn’t even have enough MPs to form a football team, let alone play a role in national politics. The stories of 2017 and 2019 hardly differed and despite marginal increases in seats (2017) and vote share (2019), the most remarkable facts about that period remain Tim Farron’s positively papal view on gay sex and our staunch opposition to Brexit.

“Young people’s interests must fall at the heart of this vision and our opposition”

Hence July 4th proved an incredible night for us. Not only did we unequivocally regain our status as Britain’s third party, but we even eclipsed our electoral apogee of the noughties. We now have 72 MPs, and this begs the question: how should we use our newfound role in a way which advances ourselves and liberalism?

It goes without saying that the way we use our position will prove critical to whether we can consolidate and build off this success at the next general election. As brilliant as 72 seats is, such an achievement was mainly delivered off the back of finally playing to the tune of FPTP and tactical voting, rather than a new found wave of popularity. We are in a privileged position now where we have a considerable platform, which we must use to articulate a cohesive liberal vision of what we stand for. It’s no good simply being “not the tories” or “not labour” and doing liberalism à la carte with whatever happens to align with popular opinion. You can see us falling into this pitfall in our support for the smoking ban, a ridiculous position to be in, especially due to our vocal support for marijuana legalisation. Supporting these nannying forms of what former Lib Dem cabinet minister David Laws called ”soggy socialism” does nothing to win us votes and undermines any sense of building a practically and ideologically cohesive platform.

“It’s no good simply being ‘not the tories’ or ‘not labour’ and doing liberalism à la carte”

As much as he might be reviled, Nick Clegg communicated a clear vision of what the party believed in and stood for. Guiding this was ′The Orange Book’. It set out a manifesto for reclaiming liberal principles and applying them to problems of the 21st century with genuinely transformative ideas about the NHS, devolution, and the environment among others. Whether or not you like the Clegg era, with many seeing it as an unsullied shift to the right, it is hard to argue with the fact that we achieved our best result in terms of popular vote share under him. This was because we communicated a broader agenda which was guided not by right nor left but by liberal ideals, and a desire to attack concentrations of power wherever they arose. We need to bring a similarly cohesive vision to the table now. It was Jo Grimond, leader of the Liberal party for 11 years who said: ‘there is no point in keeping a liberal party alive unless it promotes liberalism’. We have a duty to be that voice in Parliament advocating proudly and loudly for liberalism.

Young people's interests must fall at the heart of this vision and our opposition. If we are to consolidate our position, we must reach out to gen Z. Our electoral coalition has historically relied on older voters who we cannot count upon being there a few elections down the line. We should naturally be the party of young people given we are the only major party serious about fixing our electoral system, prepared to stand up for trans rights, and defend immigration as a net positive for society. Hence it is critical that we are vocal on issues such as Wes Streeting’s infantilising puberty blockers ban (as the Cambridge University Liberal Association has been) and in supporting housing and infrastructure development through planning deregulation (YIMBYism). Of course the coalition (namely tuition fees) had a huge impact on our relationship with a generation of voters whose trust we appeared to betrayed. Now that we are winning their confidence back, we must earn their trust again.

Politics is often talked about in terms of ‘cashing in’ political capital, as we rightly did to serve this country during the coalition years. It’s now time for us to ‘cash in’ again, and bet it all on advocating for a bold liberal agenda. One where we devolve power to individuals unburdened by conformity, poverty, and ignorance matching the aspirations of the electorate. I believe that if we do so we could be in for an even bigger win at the next election.