A Liberal Democrat council leader has said the party is "sleepwalking into irrelevance" and questioned whether Sir Ed Davey is the right leader.
Julian Brazil, who leads Devon County Council, told the BBC the party was "lacking ambition" and "not saying the things that people can relate to". Asked whether Sir Ed was the right leader, Brazil said "I wish he was" but "all the evidence is no".
A party spokesperson said the Liberal Democrats were in "an incredibly strong position" under Sir Ed's leadership because he focused on the "issues that really matter", such as the cost of living and the health service. "Under Ed's leadership we had our best result for a century, and achieved a record breaking streak of remarkable local election results," they added. "We are the most united party in Westminster and with Ed as leader we will stop Reform and the Conservatives and change our country after a decade of failing governments."
Sir Ed led the party to a record 72 MPs in the 2024 general election, but the party has slipped to fourth or fifth in national opinion polls, behind the Greens and Reform UK.
Brazil told the BBC the Lib Dems had "allowed other parties to go steaming past us," adding that "something has to change within the party if we're going to move to the next level and it's not happening at the moment". He added: "I think there is a fantastic opportunity now for us to be right in the middle of politics and we don't seem to be. We seem to be peripheral. We're lacking ambition, we're lacking courage of our convictions. We're not saying the things that people can relate to." He said the party was asking people to "vote for us because we're not somebody else".
Brazil became leader of Devon County Council in May last year after the Lib Dems overtook the Conservatives to become the largest party, but without overall control. His comments are echoed privately by some Lib Dem MPs as they gather for their annual conference in Brighton.
In an essay written ahead of the conference, South Cotswolds MP Roz Savage asked: "Why are we as a party struggling for relevance at precisely the moment when so many people feel powerless?" She urged the party to rediscover its "insurgent spirit" rather than being the "polite custodians of a system that leaves people feeling powerless".
Sir Ed, elected leader in 2020, told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg he shared the "frustration" of some of his MPs that they could not bring about "real change", blaming the UK's political system. But he insisted the party was gaining ground in council elections. "It's the most successful period that we've had," he said. "But outside elections, in terms of changing the law, which is what my MPs rightly want to do, and they're a very talented bunch, and they've actually had more success than all the other smaller parties, but they want to have more."
Sir Ed was asked directly about Brazil's complaints during a conference Q&A session on Sunday.
Council Leader Warns Lib Dems Sleepwalking to Irrelevance Under Davey