Lib Dem conference Get serious and stop the stunts, Davey told

The Liberal Democrats should drop their stunts and offer a more serious policy programme if they want to gain support among voters, according to a study presented at the party's annual conference.

- Peter Walker

Polling by the More in Common thinktank, shown to Lib Dem members at the gathering in Bournemouth, suggested that, while the party has the scope to go beyond its historic total of 72 MPs at the last election, many voters who are tempted by the party remain uncertain about what it stands for.

A particularly notable finding was that more than 60% of voters think the stunts carried out by the party leader, Ed Davey, at the general election and afterwards are not appropriate when the nation faces so many challenges, with only 21% saying they were a good way to get attention.

The feeling was strong even among current Lib Dem voters, 47% of whom worried that Davey's sequence of image-friendly escapades risked making the party appear less serious.

Davey's series of photo opportunities in the election campaign, including a bungee jump and going on a water slide and a rollercoaster, were credited with helping the party breakthrough, and were tied to policy announcements.