Up-beat LibDem Conference at Bournemouth

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 24th Sep 2004

The LibDems Annual Conference was a great success. Support for the Party is growing steadily, as the electorate becomes increasingly disillusioned with the performance of the Labour Government and the Conservative "opposition". In his speech to Conference, Party Leader Charles Kennedy referred to the new era of three party politics, where LibDems are gaining at the expense of the other two parties.

He referred to the big Liberal Democrat gains in the local elections: taking on and trouncing Labour in places like Cardiff and Cambridge, Liverpool and Newcastle; making big gains from them in Leeds and Manchester as well. While in most of these places the Conservatives just simply disappeared. It is telling indeed that the voters did not think it worthwhile electing a single Conservative councillor in a place like Oxford. If you take Scotland and Wales into account they're scarcely a national UK political party any longer. And Liberal Democrats continued making gains from the Conservatives in places like Portsmouth, St Albans and Watford.

Charles Kennedy continued, "You know some commentators will tell you that our recent victories are just the fall out from Iraq. That the LibDems are just the protest vote. Well, let's face it. There has been a lot for people to protest about. But we are being seen more and more as a party which does win elections, which does exercise responsible representation, which has become increasingly comfortable with the duties and the disciplines of power."

The vast majority of people live their lives in an increasingly inter-dependent world, facing increasingly complex issues, and for them the old-fashioned nostrums of right and left in politics no longer apply. They're looking for solution-based politics. Politics which address their everyday needs. There is a shift in the way people view politics, one that transcends any single issue. Iraq has been part of this, but by no means is it the whole story. We're working for the future. We are moving from a party of protest to a party of power. 3 party politics is here - and here to stay."

Freedom. Fairness. Trust. That's us. That's what we want from our politics. That's what we stand for. That's what we want our country to stand for. At home - and abroad. That's Liberal Democracy."