Lib Dems become UK’s third largest party again after ‘record-breaking night’

The Liberal Democrats will become the UK’s third largest party for the first time in almost a decade.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey dances at the London Art Bar in central London

Incoming Liberal Democrat MPs have taken a record number of seats for the party in the General Election.

Sir Ed Davey’s party has ousted four Cabinet ministers and denied the Tories success in constituencies once held by former prime ministers Lord Cameron, Lady May and Boris Johnson.

With 641 results declared, the Lib Dems’ tally stood at 71, beating the party’s previous record of 62 under Charles Kennedy’s leadership in 2005.

It far exceeds the party’s result at the last general election in 2019, when it secured 11 seats.

Set to take their seats on opposition benches as the UK’s third largest party – a position the Lib Dems have not held since 2015, missing out to the SNP – Sir Ed told voters his MPs “will now work hard to keep that trust with a focus on the issues that matter most to them, most of all the NHS and care”.

The party leader added: “This is a record-breaking night for the Liberal Democrats. We have swept to victory in seats from Land’s End to John O’ Groats.

“I am humbled by the trust that millions of people across the country have put in us.”

Speaking at Lib Dem headquarters in central London, Sir Ed said his party’s first campaign will be “for an emergency budget for health and care”.

He added: “Every Liberal Democrat MP will be the voice for carers and we are going to make sure your voice is heard like never before.”

Asked by journalists if his party can have any influence over a Labour Government with such a large majority, he said: “Yes, we’ve got the best ideas, we have the most ambitious programme.

“The Conservatives have left the country in a mess and it will take some time.”

He earlier celebrated his party’s vote at an election party, dancing and singing to Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline.

On the campaign trail, Sir Ed toured the country in his party’s battle bus, named Yellow Hammer 1, at one point touring 1,343 miles from Great Britain’s southwestern-most corner in Cornwall to its northeastern-most in the Scottish Highlands.

Sir Ed Davey (left) with Freddie van Mierlo in a river next to a paddle board — Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, left, with the incoming MP for Henley and Thame Freddie van Mierlo paddling in the River Thames at Goring on the campaign trail (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Among the biggest blows which his party inflicted on the Conservatives was in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, where Max Wilkinson won against Justice Secretary Alex Chalk.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan lost in Chichester, Sussex, to Jess Brown-Fuller, while Science Secretary Michelle Donelan lost to Brian Mathew in Melksham and Devizes.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer became a casualty to the Liberal Democrat candidate Charlotte Cane.

Henley and Thame, Maidenhead and Witney are also now Liberal Democrat seats.

One seat the Liberal Democrats failed to clinch was Godalming and Ash, where party sources suggested victory over Chancellor Jeremy Hunt would be “quite the moment”.

He will remain an MP in the Surrey constituency after its voters elected him with a majority of 891.

Reflecting on the Conservative Party’s performance, the Chancellor said: “A message to my children, who I sincerely hope are asleep now.

“This may seem like a tough day for our family as we move out of Downing Street, but it isn’t.

Jeremy Hunt, centre, flanked by two rival candidates clapping — Jeremy Hunt, centre, has won in Godalming and Ash, Surrey (Gareth Fuller/PA)

“We are incredibly lucky to live in a country where decisions like this are made not by bombs or bullets, but by thousands of ordinary citizens peacefully placing crosses in boxes and bits of paper.“Brave Ukrainians are dying every day to defend their right to do what we did yesterday and we must never take that for granted.

“Don’t be sad, this is the magic of democracy.”

The Liberal Democrats have taken around 12.3% of the overall vote to secure more than 70 seats.

The SNP, which took 48 seats in 2019 as the UK’s third largest party, had secured just eight seats.

Reform UK on 14.3% of the vote has taken just four.

Its leader Nigel Farage – now an MP in the Essex seaside constituency of Clacton – said overnight: “Believe you me, the appetite for electoral reform is going to be enormous after this election, and that’s one of the many things that I’m going to be up front, out there, campaigning for.

“I might even work with the Lib Dems on that.”