The leader of Richmond council strongly denounced the former Conservative government as ‘vile’ as the Liberal Democrats won 72 seats in Parliament.
Councillor Gareth Roberts has dedicated his political career to the Liberal Democrats in south west London.
Although following the traditional gateway into politics through delivering leaflets locally, Roberts has played an instrumental role as leader of the Richmond upon Thames council.
In the aftermath of their electoral result, he said: “The Conservatives deserved to get their backsides handed to them on a plate.”
Roberts repeatedly issued fiery criticisms of the Sunak government’s ‘rancid’ approach to the so-called war on woke.
In terms of leading the country, he said: “Boring is often useful if you’re trying to sort out a mess.”
Roberts believes that rather than feeding into the culture wars like Sunak did, Sir Keir Starmer is successfully establishing a stronger leadership.
He said: “Keir Starmer is doing the right thing by leaning into his dullness.”
With a firm belief that the result of the recent election will provide far more profile to the Liberal Democrats, Roberts hopes that they’ll be able to work more closely with the Labour Party to achieve their collective aims.
He then referenced the importance of consciously reaching out to young people to overcome political apathy.
“The idea that people only become politically aware when they get their first house or job is boring.’’
The Liberal Democrats have responded through their media campaign on TikTok, in an attempt to increase their share of the vote, what he refers to as the ’emerging market’.
Amidst the sphere of UK politics, Roberts believes that effectively reforming the electoral system is the next step towards increasing voter turnout, he said: “The only way you’re going to get a rebalancing of the power dynamic is through proportional representation.”
Beyond the Liberal Democrats, Roberts is an avid critic of the right wing, which he said was left fragmented.
The 2024 General Election saw the Conservatives lose votes to groups such as Reform, who exploited the electorate’s rejection of the Conservatives.
He claimed: “Not everyone who votes for Reform is racist, but every racist votes Reform.”
He warned that possible additional decline in the Conservatives’ popularity could allow a further rise to nationalism, with BNP voters ‘crawling out of the woodwork’.
