Dundee LibDems praise party's performance as Labour has poll disaster

6.42.33pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 4th May 2008

Dundee LibDems praise party's performance

Dundee Liberal Democrats today (Sunday 4th May) backed comments by party leader Nick Clegg MP who has has praised the party's strong performance in the English and Welsh local elections and has pointed out that polling in real elections in Scotland also shows LibDem support increasing.

Gordon Brown said it had been a "bad and disappointing" election for Labour, as the party suffered its worst council results in at least 40 years. Labour won a national equivalent vote share of 24% of votes cast in England and Wales, behind the Tories on 44% and Lib Dems on 25%.

The Liberal Democrats gained a net 34 councillors on top of an already impressive 2004 performance, and have taken four new councils - Sheffield, Hull, St Albans and Burnley.

Nick said, "These are a very strong set of results for the party.

"Against the predictions of most pundits, we have successfully defended the record number of council seats that we won in 2004 - the best ever year for Liberal Democrats - and for only the second time in our history, we have outpolled Labour.

"This is a very strong performance and a great tribute to the hard work of our councillors up and down the country. It has been a very good night for us."

Here in Dundee, LibDem City Council Group Leader, Cllr Fraser Macpherson, said, "The LibDem performance in the English and Welsh local elections was excellent and one by-election result in Scotland from Thursday showed a 10.7% increase in the LibDem share (Troup, Aberdeenshire)."

Related Link:

LibDems are 'regaining momentum' - BBC.