What threat do the Liberal Democrats pose to the Conservatives?

What threat do the Liberal Democrats pose to the Conservatives? Two years ago, this question could have been brushed aside as someone trying to cause mischief. In the 2015 election, the Lib Dems lost 49 seats, a result ‘immeasurably more crushing and unkind’ than expected. At PMQs last year, Theresa May mocked Tim Farron’s plight as she jeered that her party is ‘a little bit bigger than his is’ — at 330 MPs to nine.

However, the EU referendum result has seen a change in fortunes for Farron’s once beleaguered party. As the largest — and loudest — unashamedly pro-EU party, the Lib Dems have been cleaning up of late in by-elections (and are expected to do the same in the local council elections) by appealing to the 48pc. This combined with an efficient (and at times witty) press operation that puts Labour to shame means that the party is beginning to emerge as a more effective opposition.