[A-List] UK state: political realignment

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Lib Dems on course 'to eclipse Conservatives'
By Marie Woolf Chief Political Correspondent
The Independent
20 December 2002

The Tories have been "obliterated" in Britain's cities and reduced to "the
party of the English shires", an analysis for the Liberal Democrats has
found.

The strategy paper argues the Liberal Democrats are well-placed to capture
further Tory seats, particularly in urban areas, and will be the main party
to capitalise from Conservative "disarray".

"Conservative Collapse in the Cities" sets out how the Liberal Democrats are
on course to create a "Tory-free zone" on councils in many towns. It
predicts the party will make gains in next year's council elections in
Scotland and Wales while Tory support will slip.

It shows how, over the last eighteen years, Tory parliamentary seats in
cities outside London have been reduced from 43 to five, and from seven to
zero in Cardiff , Edinburgh and Glasgow. "In Britain's main cities, we are
the increasingly effective opposition to Labour and the Tories are in
terminal decline," the paper says. The party has been buoyed by recent polls
showing them gaining on the Tories and leading them overall in the
South-east and South-west.

Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said yesterday the
Conservative party was in total disarray. "Scarcely a week goes by without
internal squabbling in the Tory party. They have taken their eyes off the
ball and there is every sign that we are catching them up," he said. "They
are in no position to take on Labour in the cities, whilst in the South
polls show the Conservatives trailing us."