Reasons to be cheerful: those second places

While we are waiting to see how the hung parliament negotiations end up, I imagine that most Liberal Democrats are still feeling a little down about the result of the general election. However, there are one or two reasons why we should be a little more cheerful.

One of these is the second places the party is now in across the country. Anthony Wells reports the following:

“We know the Liberal Democrats didn’t end up increasing the number of seats they hold, but they did substantially increase the number of second places they have, and have more winnable marginals. The notional 2005 figures had the Lib Dems holding 62 seats and in second place in 188. Following the 2010 election the Lib Dems hold 57 seats, but are in second place in 242. On the 2005 notional figures the Lib Dems were within 10% of the winning party in 31 seats, now they are within 10% in 45 seats.”

This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.