Losing here: Why have the Lib Dems stalled in the polls?

Theresa May’s return to Downing Street on the morning of 9 June will surprise no-one, but there is one thing political commentators will be left to puzzle over: just why did the Liberal Democrats do so badly? Tim Farron’s party should be big winners in this general election. If not matching the 62 seats they won in 2005 or the 57 they notched up in 2010 they should at least be going a long way to reversing the collapse they suffered in 2015 as many of their voters punished them for their role in the coalition and for Nick Clegg’s backtrack on his tuition fees pledge in particular. Conditions are hugely favourable for them. Labour has drifted far to the left as it did in 1983 when the then Liberal-SDP Alliance won 25 per cent of the vote. Not only that, the Lib Dems ought to be benefitting from their long-established reputation as the most pro-EU of the main parties.