Liberal Democrats Riding High

12.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 8th Aug 2004

The recent Liberal Democrat victory in the Leicester South by-election and the excellent result in the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election both show that the party can take on Labour and win.

We have proved that the Liberal Democrats' win in Brent East was no flash in the pan and this will have big implications for the next General Election.

The Conservatives are going nowhere except further down and out. The results demonstrate that in large areas of the country, a Conservative vote is now a wasted vote.

Local Councillor Chris Coleman said, "The Liberal Democrats remain positively on course for a further major stride forward at the next General Election."

Since those by-election successes, the opinion polls have shown the Liberal Democrats riding high. The latest one - a Populus/News of the World Poll put the Liberal Democrats on 28%, equal with the Conservatives, and just 2% behind the Labour Party who are at 30%.