'We’re being seen as a bulwark against Farage.'
The Lib Dems have received £100,000 in donations to a ‘Farage fighting fund’ which will help them take on Reform UK ahead of next month’s local elections.
According to the Financial Times, the money will be targeted at areas where there is growing support for Reform, including Devon, Cornwall and Shropshire.
A further £75,000 has been committed to fund campaigning in next year’s Senedd elections in Wales.
A recent Survation poll of Senedd voting intentions shows Labour at 27%, Plaid Cymru at 24%, and Reform UK also at 24%.
The donations add to the £1 million the party has already received in 2025—an unusually high figure for the Lib Dems this far from a general election.
A Lib Dem party strategist told the FT: “Normally at this time of year, at this point in the election cycle, it would be tumbleweed, but we’re getting a huge amount of support.”
“We’re being seen as a bulwark against Farage,” they added.
The party reportedly hopes to grow the fund to £1 million by the end of the year to ramp up campaign materials and digital ads targeting Reform in areas where the Lib Dems are already strong locally.
During the Lib Dems’ local election campaign launch at the end of March, leader Ed Davey said that the Lib Dems could both become the “party of Middle England” and “overtake the Conservatives as the second biggest party of local government”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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