The Liberal Democrats have a bit of an image issue. The socks and sandals brigade is a moniker that has stuck with them for a long time and it’s not an image that is seen as modern or one that would lead to them being votable as a party.

It’s actually a bit unfair, they have made an important stand on issues such as climate change and civil liberties as well as supporting Joanna Lumley on the Ghurkhas and on Afghanistan.

Yet at this conference they seem a bit downbeat – the polls are showing that they have not made the gains as Labour popularity has fallen. Their secret weapon as pollster Populus highlighted in a lunchtime fringe could be Vince Cable. Secret because 50% of those polled didn’t know who he was, but of those that did they rated him very highly. Even Tory voters rated more trustworthy on the economy than their own Shadow Chancellor, George Osbourne. The main problem for the Liberal Democrats and Nick Clegg in particular is that this doesn’t seem to rub off on the party or their popularity. Vince at a Construction Industry Council reception last night highlighted the case for an American style infrastructure bank alongside his other economic analyses.
 
The RIBA team here have been meeting with Liberal Democrat MPs including Sarah Teather immediately after her speech to conference on housing and Dan Rogerson, Shadow Communities and Local Government Minister. One triumph for our lobbying already so far is the heralding of local design review panels following a trip we organised for them to Southwark design review panel. A Smith Institute fringe were introduced to the benefits of local design review panels today. Important because many in the audience were Local Authority councillors and city leaders.
 
We have our fringe debate yet to come on The Rise of the YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard). It’s already raised a few smiles as we’ve been flyering along the seafront so I’m hoping for a good debate challenging the Liberal Democrat policy on localism to look at incentives for building good quality development in local areas.