The Liberal Democrat Group Annual Report 2026

Welcome to the 2026/2027 Annual Report of the Liberal Democrat Group. This is another year of change, including the position of the Group Leader. Joe Harris, Group Leader until May 2026, I want to thank Joe for all his hard work as he prepares to stand down following a new job opportunity.

Joe has done an excellent job for us at the LGA and within the Lib Dems nationally, always standing up for local government and the Liberal Democrats who are involved with it. Thank you Joe – and we wish you all the very best with your future career.

The LGA Liberal Democrat Group Executive have confirmed that I will serve as Group Leader until fresh elections are held next year, following Joe Harris’s decision to resign as Leader. They have also confirmed Councillor Amanda Hopgood will be Deputy Leader.

In her Group Whip report, Heather Kidd mentions colleagues who have stood back this year after decades of service. But I did want to pay particular tribute to Camden Lib Dem councillor Flick Rea who served as a councillor for 35 years and was an inspiration to many Lib Dem councillors and campaigners.

Flick was also the lead Lib Dem member for Culture, Tourism and Sport here at the LGA including chairing its Committee, in the run up to and during the 2012 Olympics. She was an inspiration to many and we will miss her.

This year we saw another 133 Lib Dem councillors elected, bringing our total up to 3,361 across the UK.

At the time of writing 40 councils have a Liberal Democrat majority. If you add in where we lead the council either under minority control or lead in an alliance that is now 76 councils led by the Lib Dems.

As we all know that means there are more Liberal Democrat Council Leaders than there are Liberal Democrat MPs - despite our record gains at the 2024 General Election!