Things are looking up, or are they?

It's been nearly 2 years since I have blogged and it's about time I got back into it.

A lot has happened since then, it would appear that my early optimism for a second coalition was on reflection far too optimistic and we Liberal Democrats have been all but demolished in the last General Election leaving us with only 8 MPs. I did not fair too much better personally, having come 2nd in 2010, I came 4th behind both Labour and UKIP in 2015, but at least, thanks to some local support for me, I kept my deposit, many less fortunate LibDem candidates did not.

Just over a year later and although we are being told that things are looking up for the LibDems, it is difficult to get really enthusiastic, even though we have made some ground in local elections and there are some indications in the polls that we are (very slowly) recovering from that awful night. 

I personally was very pleased to be re-elected this year with an increased majority and even more pleased that we made 3 gains in Gosport, bringing our total councillors to 9, showing that when you do the work on the ground you can still do well at a local level.

We are hoping, in 2 years, to make more ground and put real pressure on the Conservatives in Gosport, that is if Gosport has not been swallowed up in the Conservatives devolution plans. Funny I thought devolution was more control at a local level, not less.

And finally, here we are less than 2 weeks away from a referendum, with what appears to be a surge in anti-EU feeling based on misplaced national pride and the pipe dreams of the Leave campaigners who have no real plan for what will happen to the UK if we do cut our noses off to spite our faces and vote to leave.

Have things really got better since May 2015? For the number of councillors that we have now compared to then, yes, but the real question is, do the British public have more or less desire for Liberal values than they did in 2015?