Lib Dems deliver upbeat message to Wales
Liberal Democrat president Simon Hughes is due to deliver a keynote speech at the party’s Welsh spring conference in Cardiff.
Party leader Charles Kennedy cancelled a trip to Wales following an exhaustive 30-hour debate on the Government’s controversial new anti-terror legislation.
Welsh Lib Dem leader Lembit Opik and Brecon and Radnorshire MP Roger Williams were also held at Westminster by the showdown between the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Lib Dems opposed the measures, which impose curfews and other restrictions on foreign terror suspects.
Mr Kennedy had planned to visit Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, in the target seat of Ceredigion, before addressing a pre-conference rally. On the first anniversary of the Madrid bombings, Mr Kennedy was set to say voters had turned to the Lib-Dems because “we don’t play on people’s fears like Labour and the Conservatives do”.
Mr Hughes will stress the message that the party are the “real alternative” to Labour, a slogan unveiled by Mr Kennedy during the UK Spring conference in Harrogate last weekend. He is also expected to highlight the party’s policies on the environment and tackling crime.
The Welsh spring conference is being held at Cardiff University, in the party’s key target seat of Cardiff Central, where Labour has a majority of just 659.
The mood at the conference is expected to be buoyant, as the Lib Dems aim to capture a record number of seats at this summer’s general election. Activists were told in a pre-conference rally they can expect the best result since the days of Lloyd George.
