There’s a breathless, somewhat desperate, tone to the Liberal Democrats’ website appealing for council candidates. It’s like a low-rent dating site. The site says:

‘By joining the Liberal Democrats, and by becoming a councillor, you will become an active part of a political party that believes in engaging with communities, in creating a free and fair society, and in saving the planet from environmental abuse. You will also be offered support, funding for your campaign, and training and development, as well as the chance to gain a rich variety of experience, and a great sense of camaraderie through working towards a shared set of common goals.’

No previous politics required. Just turn up, we’ll stick a yellow rosette on you, and send you out with a pile of Focus newsletters. For 20 years this worked just fine. People with a range of views, even within the same ward, could coalesce under a ‘winning here’ placard and wave the Lib Dem flag.

But something has changed. In this year’s local elections, people are not queuing up to save the planet and gain a great sense of camaraderie. The Liberal Democrats are fielding fewer candidates than at any time for over a decade. According to local government pundits Thrasher and Rallings, the proportion of seats fought by the Lib Dems was 81 per cent in 2008, 80 per cent in 2004 and 79 per cent in 2000. Across the country, Liberal Democrat sitting councillors have decided not to restand; new candidates cannot be found to fight seats.

They’ve decided to not field police commissioner candidates in most of the police authority areas. In the city mayor election in Salford, they’re standing the same guy that’s been the parliamentary candidate since the days of Gladstone. In London, it’s Brian Paddick again, set to come fourth.

In councils such as Liverpool, which they ran for 12 years until 2010, the Liberal Democrats have collapsed. They had 63 Liverpool councillors in 2003. Today it is a third of that. After May, it will be even fewer. In Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds, the Lib Dems cannot find enough candidates to field a full slate.

It’s a meltdown.

Tim Farron MP, the young pretender to the Lib Dem leadership, attempted to spin his party’s dire position in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph:

‘This is not as simple as the quantity of names you can get on ballot papers … the number of candidates fluctuates year after year. The transition from a party of opposition to a party of Government has not been plain sailing. We took a massive hit last May, losing almost half of all our defending councillors. It is understandable that we won’t be fighting on the same scale as we have seen in the past.’

A masterclass in understatement. So what’s going on the collective Lib Dem psyche? A clue is offered on the Lib Dem recruitment website, which, alongside all the benefits listed earlier, adds the killer phrase:

‘when you become a Liberal Democrat Councillor, not only do you become part of your local team, but also of the national party.’

Ah yes, the national party. The picture used to illustrate the boundless joys of becoming a Lib Dem councilor is a lady in a cerise, or possibly magenta, suit surrounded by students in Lowestoft ‘discussing tuition fees’. They don’t look happy.

This is what’s different. For 20 years, Liberal Democrats could tell the voters whatever they wanted to hear. They could play back the voters’ doorstep concerns, hopes and fears, in the knowledge they would never be in positions of authority or leadership. They could say one thing at one end of a town, and something else at the other.

Today, Liberal Democrats are being held to account for what their government is doing. All of it. The cuts to charities, councils and the police. The betrayal of young people and students. The lamentable policies for the environment. The granny tax. The assault on disabled people. The NHS debacle. Liberal Democrat councillors are part of the national party. They are just as responsible as Vince Cable or Ed Davey. They get all of the grief, but none of the chauffeur-driven cars and foreign travel. Liberal Democrat councillors have been brutalised by the experience of government. You can see why they want to duck out of it.

One year in to the coalition, the Lib Dems lost 600 council seats (the Tories slightly gained seats in the same election). Next month, two years in, the party is bracing itself for further losses. As we enter the final days of campaigning, the party is neck and neck with UKIP in national opinion polls. There are currently 3,111 Liberal Democrat councillors. How many are coming back?

The answer comes in the famous words from the book of Hosea:

‘For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.’

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Paul Richards writes a weekly column for Progress, Paul’s week in politics

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Photo: Devon Buchanan