Peter Taylor, Elected Mayor of Watford, delivered a keynote at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in York this weekend, highlighting the town’s record of delivery and outlining the party’s vision for the future.
It is really good to be introduced by Councillor Callum Robertson – our newest Watford councillor. Callum was elected in December – increasing our share of the vote to over 50 per cent and defeating Reform UK.
In that election, Labour slumped from second to fourth and got their worst ever result in the ward.
This is pattern we are seeing across the country – people feeling fed up with Labour and turning to us to make sure that together we stop Reform and everything that they stand for.
In 2025, the Liberal Democrats won more local by-elections than any other party.
It really is an honour to be asked to speak to you all today.
Today is an important day. So, I would like to start by saying – Happy Mother’s Day mum. Your card is in the post.
I’m sure that I am not alone in becoming ever more aware - as my own children grow up – of the impact my parents made on me.
It can be quite disconcerting when you say something – perhaps to your own children – and you realise that you sound just like one of your own parents.
My mum taught me about the importance of serving others, social justice and to be cautious when you meet an Arsenal fan.
I was born in Preston in Lancashire and my parents made quite a controversial decision when I was 7 – to move to Yorkshire.
I was the first person in my family to go to university and, like all the cool kids, I joined this party while I was there.
At the Edinburgh University freshers’ fayre Kevin Lang signed me up. He’s now leading our fantastic group of councillors on Edinburgh Council who are making a real difference in that city.
I remember attending my first Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in Dunfermline and hearing Jim Wallace – our leader in Scotland at the time – delivering a fantastic speech.
I had the privilege of working for Alistair Carmichael – Jim’s successor as the MP for Orkney and Shetland – and often heard about the difference Jim had made.
Jim sadly passed away a few weeks ago. He represented the very best of our party. Hardworking, determined and intelligent.
A man of who achieved so much for residents in Orkney and Shetland and was an outstanding minister in Scotland.
I know our whole party is grateful to him for his many years of incredible service.
Having been part of this party for many years I am conscious that when I look out at you today, I can see many familiar faces.
I am also acutely aware that some of you may have been in the conference bar until the early hours of this morning.
When I was a teacher, we were warned about the dangers of simply talking at people for long periods of time.
So I’m going to ask you a question – mainly to check that you are paying attention.
Can you raise your hand if you think you can name the three people who have been Liberal Democrat Elected Mayors?
Dorothy Thornhill was our party’s first ever Elected Mayor, the first elected Mayor of Watford and the first ever female elected mayor. She achieved fantastic things for Watford, after Labour left the council in a mess.
Not only that, she led the party’s review after the 2019 general election – setting in place the approach that led to our historic result in 2024 - and the election of 72 Lib Dem MPs.
Dave Hodgson deserves our party’s thanks too. As the Mayor of Bedford he attracted hundreds of companies to the town and for over 13 years worked so hard for every resident in his borough.
Thank you, Mayor Dave!
In the local elections last year our party elected 370 councillors, gaining 163.
We were ahead of both the Conservatives and Labour - for the first time ever in local elections.
The results were our 7th year of gains - our best ever winning streak in local elections.
The Liberal Democrats now control more councils than the Conservatives.
In those elections, I was elected to Hertfordshire County Council, which our party now runs after 26 years of Conservative control.
Our council leader, Steve Jarvis and the team are doing a fantastic job.
Last month we successfully passed our £1.2bn budget which prioritised funding to improve our roads and pavements, special needs education and the environment.
Reform had 15 councillors on the council.
A third didn’t turn up for the budget meeting.
Of those who did, one quit the group, announced he had joined Restore Britain and then accused his former colleagues of corruption.
This week another one of their councillors announced he was standing down.
Astonishingly, since they were elected last May, almost 10% of Reform UK councillors across the country have either defected to other parties, resigned, or been sacked.
We don’t have to imagine anymore what Reform UK-led councils would be like.
We see the impact of their incompetent and uncaring approach every day.
In Nottinghamshire, the Reform-led county council banned a local newspaper from accessing interviews and press releases. The so-called press-ban.
Having promised to cut taxes, Reform-led Worcestershire County Council are hiking council tax by 9%.
The record of Reform councils is clear – broken promises, endless infighting and a complete failure to improve the lives of the residents they were elected to serve.
Our residents deserve so much better than that.
But we all know why some people feel tempted to vote for Reform or indeed for the Green Party.
Opposition is easy and so is populism.
Pointing out the failings of this government really isn’t difficult.
So many of us feel badly let down by the Labour Party.
After years of Conservative failure, we hoped for something far, far better.
In December, I received a letter from the Local Government minister asking if I would like to cancel the local elections due to take place in Watford in May because the government is reorganising councils in our area.
My wife thought this was a great idea – I think she might have even started planning an Easter holiday - but I immediately said ‘no’.
Not because I don’t like spending time with my family but because democracy should be the basis of local government in our country.
Liberal Democrat-led councils around the country said the same thing.
It is up to residents to decide who has the honour to serve as elected members.
Can you imagine if during the coalition years, when we were sorting out the economic mess left by the last Labour government, we had announced that the local elections were too expensive and too much of a distraction to go ahead?
Labour would have – rightly - been apoplectic and there’s no doubt that they would still be going on about it to this day.
We should not be too kind to Labour.
We know they are doing badly at the ballot box but democracy is fundamental to local government in our country.
It is frankly incredible that in such a cack-handed way they thought that they could cancel elections which will result in their party losing many seats.
Residents get to decide who run our councils – even if the party of government doesn’t like their choices.
The major political issue in Watford is Labour’s failure to deliver the long promised rebuild of our local hospital.
This was one of the infamous ‘40 new hospitals’ promised by Boris Johnson - which the Conservatives failed to deliver.
Before the last general election, Labour politicians told us that they would get this built.
Almost as soon as they took office, they announced that this project and many others would be delayed.
A recent National Audit Office report showed that in Watford we won’t get our new hospital until 2038. This is simply unacceptable.
NHS patients and staff deserve better than being told by Labour politicians that they have to put up with crumbling buildings for decades until they are eventually rebuilt.
People voted for change - and rightly feel let down by a Labour government that lacks ambition or a clear direction.
If people want to know what our party stands for, our record in local government is a good place to start.
Liberal Democrats have just under 3,200 councillors across the UK and we currently lead 75 councils across England and Wales.
Lib Dem councils are responsible for over £17 billion of public spending.
We lead - or are part of the administration - of councils that serve over 13 million people.
Now I am a very humble man, with a great deal to be humble about, but it would be remiss of me not to tell you about some of the great things we are doing in Watford.
As my time is limited, I will highlight just 5 of these…
1. We have invested in 17 award-winning green flag parks – the highest number in Hertfordshire!
2. Both of our leisure centres have been independently assessed as ‘outstanding’.
3. We have never increased Watford’s share of council tax by more than the rate of inflation. This year it is being frozen.
4. We have worked with local homelessness charities to reduce the number of rough sleepers – providing a free winter night shelter and more outreach support.
5. We were the first district council in the country to introduce a bike share scheme, and these bikes have been used for over 650,000 journeys.
And 5B – We achieved my manifesto commitment to plant 20,000 trees two years ahead of schedule,
we have refurbished and reopened the Watford Colosseum,
we’ve provide free community events throughout the year,
we are cleaning up the River Colne,
we’re delivering a green loop to help people walk and cycle around the town,
we are in the top 10 councils in the country for EV charging points,
we’ve made the town a more dementia friendly place,
we’ve improved community shopping parades across the town,
our Local Plan is helping us to deliver more affordable homes and council houses too
and we have allocated £1m to community groups from the money we receive from developers.
We have implemented over 95% of the commitments we made to residents in the manifesto I was elected on in 2022.
Liberal Democrats – in local government, delivering for the people we serve.
In recent years we have won a number of awards too.
One of them was at our party’s–autumn conference.
We won the diversity award for the success of our diverse and growing group of councillors.
We have worked hard to make sure that our councillors reflect the community that we serve and come from all works of life, bringing their insights and wisdom to the decisions we make.
We also won the iESE award for Council of the Year and were a finalist for the Local Authority of the Year award in the prestigious MJ Awards but Liberal Democrat-led Stockport won that award.
I for one was delighted for them…
One of the big differences between Lib Dem-run councils and the rest is that we see our job as bringing people together to get things done.
The views of our residents aren’t an after-thought.
We don’t carry out consultations for the sake of it, providing lip service to the idea that residents’ views matter.
The views of our residents are central to everything we do.
One of the reasons we’ve seen a rise populists of all types is that too many people feel disconnected from the people they elect.
Liberal Democrats in local government are the best antidote to that – bringing people together to get things done.
There are two things that could make that role more difficult in the years ahead.
Local Government Reorganisation was not something in Labour’s manifesto but now takes up so much time for many of us in local government.
It is so important that through this process we remain true to our core values and belief in localism.
Labour uses the language of devolution but their instincts are to centralise, taking power away from communities.
We must not be willing handmaids in the creation of mega councils – covering vast areas, with huge populations, remote from the people those councils seek to serve.
These are being created in the name of efficiency savings but what value do we place on local councils that are totally embedded in their communities - and delivering with and for their residents?
We must always be the party of local government – arguing for power to be decentralised to local communities who best know their areas.
We need to empower local communities so that they can get things done – not go along with Labour’s plan to centralise power and move it away from the people we want to serve.
One of the reasons Labour is reorganising councils is the perilous financial state that so many face.
I would like to pay tribute to Lib Dem teams who are responsible for county councils, unitaries and metropolitan councils. Every day they grapple with an incredibly difficult financial situation.
Last year councils spent over £26bn on adult social care – around 40% of spending by all councils.
Almost half of councils who are responsible for social care have either already applied for support from the government or say they are likely to in the next few years.
The government cannot ignore the crisis in local government finance any longer.
We urgently need a comprehensive review of the local government funding so that we have fair, sustainable and long-term system in place.
Like the rest of you, I like nothing more than to point at potholes – and getting them fixed.
But we need to be honest.
Potholes are often the result of council’s not having enough money to maintain their roads properly.
We will only fix our potholes when we fix local government finance.
We need to be tough on potholes and tough on the causes of potholes.
I would just add as an aside – it’s worth remembering that the main reason local councils and so many other public services lack the resources they need is that the UK economy has barely grown for over a decade.
It is beyond doubt that Brexit has made our country poorer - meaning we have less money for public services.
Those of us on the front line in local government see the impact of this economic mess every day – people turning up to our Town Halls who are homeless, foodbanks that have never been busier and public services under enormous pressure.
Brexiteers helped create this financial mess and Labour aren’t bold enough to fix it.
Should we now put the people responsible for this mess in charge of council budgets?
The elections in May offer residents in Watford and across the county a clear choice.
If you feel let down by Labour – so do we.
If you want to stop Reform UK from dividing our communities – vote Liberal Democrat.
We will work tirelessly to bring people together and get things done - making life better for everyone.
Thank you, conference