The current leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable is to step down from the leadership position in May should there not be another snap general election.
The MP for Twickenham in London first served as an MP between 1997 to 2015, when he lost his seat, but was re-elected at the 2017 general election with a majority of 9,762.
Before becoming party leader, Cable held several positions such as Deputy Leader of the Liberal democrats between 2007 and 2010. Cable also has experience of being in Cabinet between 2010 – 2015 during the Conservative led coalition government, he held the position of Business Secretary.
In a statement on the Liberal Democrat website, Cable who has led the Liberal Democrats since 2017 said it had been a “great privilege”.
Recent UK general elections have not been fruitful for the party. In the 2015 general election, the party lost 49 seats at Westminster and in 2017, the party managed to win 12 seats, a marginal increase of 4 seats compared to 2015. Cable refers to these results at general elections as “difficult and disappointing” in his statement.
Although Cable is stepping down from his leadership role he still plans to be active within the party and politics, he said in his statement: ” I will continue to work with you and my successor to make sure the Liberal Democrats are at the centre of Britain’s rapidly changing politics.”
Sir Vince Cable is the fourth person to lead the party in as many years, and its possible that the party may make some changes as to who can vote for its leader, if the proposed “registered supporters” idea passes at the Liberal Democrat’s currently ongoing Spring conference. Cable alluded to this in his statement as an “opportunity”.
“At our spring conference this weekend, members will have the chance to make that contest the biggest and most open leadership election British politics has ever seen.
“It’s a real opportunity for our party to seize the radical and liberal centre of British politics”.
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