The Lib Dems are already paying the price for their role in the coalition in the polls with grim reading to be found in the recent YouGov poll, and the Reuters/IPSOS Mori Political Monitor, as Nick Clegg and the party more generally have become a target for student protest and today the Guardian reports how the party is struggling to raise money. Funny that.
Worse still it is being outpaced by the UK Independence party. Is there any good news for Clegg who chose yesterday to say he “massively regrets” finding himself in a situation where he had to break his promise on abolishing tuition fees? Well David Cameron has hailed the Lib Dem leader as his “honourable” ally. That’ll help.
All three parties suffered large declines in donations in the aftermath of the election but the Liberal Democrats suffered the greatest fall. In the last quarter, from April to June, which covered the election, the party received just over £2m, but in the following quarter, the coalition’s first full three months in government, Nick Clegg’s party received just £350,645. The UK Independence party outdid them in fundraising, raking in £354,000.
The Liberal Democrats will now face one of the toughest funding periods as they have also lost the majority of their state funding, granted to opposition parties, since going into government,” the Guardian reports.