More than that, the plight of Lib Dems in the South West should also remind us of the dangers of compromising for power or allowing party allegiance to justify a certain elasticity when it comes to core values.

Cornwall has long been seen as a stronghold for the Liberal Democrats. It has never been quite that simple but it is true that our party has been weakened and stifled in Cornwall by the Lib Dems’ oppositional tactics and pavement politics. As the compromises of government took their toll after 1997, it was easier than ever for the Lib Dems to pick up the progressive mantle and offer a pain free protest to many of our voters.

Those of us engaged in local politics have known for a long time that, as a party, their progressive, left of centre credentials are fragile and easily overridden – though individually we can agree on many issues. The rest of the country is still coming to terms with many u-turns and flagrant dismissal of their election platform but it is no surprise to those familiar with Liberal Democrats in the South West.

Labour has a brilliant record in Cornwall. Our government gave around 25% of the population in Cornwall a pay increase with the introduction of the national minimum wage. It is forgotten now that the Liberal Democrats argued for a regional minimum that would have consolidated Cornwall’s low pay economy. Labour won billions of pounds worth of European investment and match funded it, built a university, a medical school, transformed educational and vocational opportunities and laid the groundwork for industrial renewal through improved infrastructure and ‘green’ technology.

The Lib Dems used their electoral strength and parliamentary allowances here ruthlessly and effectively to rubbish Labour’s record, while taking credit for every progressive step. They built a reputation for standing up for Cornwall, based on sound-bites and leaflets while targeting our government with constant, often misleading, attacks.

For example, as health funding doubled, trebled and almost quadrupled in a decade, Lib Dem MPs were plastered all over local papers and local newsletters welcoming new facilities and operating theatres. At the same time, their campaign platform was that Cornwall did not have ‘fair funding’: every local failure was excused for lack of funds and blame shifted to government.

Over the years, the perception has grown that Labour is not relevant in the county. Increasingly over the years, Labour’s more centralised campaigning organisation and unremitting key seat strategy has also given credibility to the ridiculous idea that Labour is not relevant to large swathes of Cornwall and the South West.

Labour is as relevant to those needing fairness and social justice in rural areas as it is in urban streets. As passionate as we are about winning power in the country to improve fairness for all, as much as we need to focus on the areas we can win to form a government, we also need to know that we reduce our own chances of electoral success if we let this overwhelm our passion to campaign for everyone in every area of the country.

We may identify with ‘winnable’, ‘marginal’ or ‘unwinnable’ constituencies but voters have their own ideas of community boundaries and a party that is seen as supine in large swathes of these communities will always face a problem when it comes to elections.

The idea that the Lib Dems can be trusted to provide a progressive alternative in the areas we find it hard to reach is just mistaken. While Lib Dems at Westminster (including Cornwall’s five) might cosy up to Labour MPs and encourage the view that their priorities accord with ours, in practice the opposite is true.

The four years their party controlled Cornwall County Council revealed a reality of cuts to frontline services, neglect of children’s services (now in special measures) and adult social care, setting the lowest budget in the South West. They ran a cliquey and unaccountable council, neutering effective scrutiny by controlling the committees.

Consequently, at last year’s unitary elections, they suffered a sweeping defeat and at the General Election lost their grip on Cornwall as their right of centre supporters returned to the Tories. Ironically, their inability to express any positive views on our progressive policies and their relentless campaigns against the Labour government probably helped pave the way for Tory victories and the dilemma they faced in May.

This left them with the decision that could lead to electoral disaster. The Lib Dems have effectively taken the Labour vote in Cornwall but by entering coalition with the most right wing government since Margaret Thatcher’s, they face a massive challenge to hang on to that support.

It is up to Labour – in every part of Cornwall – to expose the Lib Dems’ current attempts to identify themselves locally with opposition to unpopular policies, while trotting through the lobbies in favour. We must be clear that the alternative to the Conservatives is Labour. However sympathetic the Liberal Democrats seem – and some individuals genuinely are – their divisions and compromises as a party will always take precedence over any commitment to fairness and left of centre ideas.

Labour’s strength is that we are part of a wider movement that embraces and supports our core values, but there were times in government when we came close to losing sight of that. Our future campaigns must be confident and we must trust in our values to embrace every area of the country and rebuild our coalitions of support.

Most importantly, as we watch the squirming of the Lib Dems, we should remember that the biggest challenges are those we set ourselves: the values we campaign on in opposition, we must hold to in power.

 Photo: Edward Webb