Party conferences: Seeking science in Bournemouth

The UK’s traditional third party are 2019’s comeback story, but is research on their minds?

Buoyed by success in the European parliament and local elections, and riding high in the polls, the Liberal Democrat autumn conference in Bournemouth last month often felt like an extended celebration.

At points this year the party’s surge has seen them actually overtake the Labour party in some polls of voting intention. Currently they are hovering around the 20 per cent mark, with Labour at around 23 per cent.