Ex-Lib Dem MP blames poll debacle on ‘Tory fear campaign’

Former business secretary and senior Liberal Democrat MP, Vince Cable, has said that he was the victim of a Tory fear campaign.

The Liberal Democrats fell sharply after the general elections from 57 MPs to just eight, with Vince Cable being one of the party heavyweights to suffer. But he feels that his party lost because of a cynical campaign of fear and that “fear triumphed over hope: fear of 'chaos'; fear of Ed Miliband's socialism; fear of being held to ransom by the Scots…this fear was carefully - brilliantly - mobilized by the Conservatives and used to devastating effect in a targeted campaign that included 23 Tory-facing Lib Dem seats".

Many people across Britain were angry that the Liberal Democrats formed a government with the Tories in 2010, going back on some of their pre-election pledges including the controversial raising of tuition fees to £9,000 per year. This decimated much of the Liberal Democrat vote across the country, particularly their former student core.

But Vince Cable believes that it was fear that beat the Lib Dems, a fear that he believes will come back to haunt the Tories. Cable said that it “unleashed English -alongside Scottish - nationalism. Ultimately this may prove more dangerous to them than the traditional enemies of Conservatism…they have started a fire and clever [Conservative election strategist] Lynton Crosby will no longer be around to advise them on how to put it out."

The Liberal Democrats are no longer the powerful and influential voice they were in 2010. They have a handful of MPs, little bargaining power and are no longer the third biggest party-by-party membership or MPs (the SNP have taken over). Vince Cable is just one of a long line of liberals to have lost as the party now turn to the future and hope they can make rebuild and re-establish themselves as the third alternative in British politics.

LM/SKL

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