Liberal Democrats seize the Opportunity

10.56.44am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 15th Jul 2009

Nick Clegg during campaign for Gurkha rights

Political and economic crises mean that great changes are possible and Liberal Democrats need to seize the opportunity ahead. In the last month or so we have been very successful having led and won the House of Commons vote on the Gurkhas. We have also:

1. Beaten Labour into third place in the local elections (with a record high vote share of 28%)

2. Won almost three times as many council seats as Labour (484 Liberal Democrat councillors to Labour's 178)

3. Added Bristol to the list of major cities run by Liberal Democrats that includes Cardiff, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and Edinburgh

4. Won five of the six county seats in Burnley from Labour (the BNP won the sixth)

5. Gained an extra MEP

6. Elected Liberal Democrat MEPs in every part of England and Scotland, whilst narrowly failing to win a seat in Wales

At Prime Minister's Questions recently Nick Clegg said "Labour is finished" and it seems that most voters now agree with that assessment. At the same time, the Conservatives have failed to offer a real alternative to Labour's political and economic failures.