10 things to remember about the Liberal Democrats the Real Opposition in Greater Manchester

6.34.32pm GMT Mon 21st Feb 2005

The Liberal Democrats already have twice as many MPs in Greater Manchester as the Conservatives

This Parliamentary strength is also reflected on local councils across Greater Manchester - The Liberal Democrats have around 40 more seats than the Conservatives across the county

The Liberal Democrats have three Leaders of the Council in Greater Manchester - in Stockport, Bolton and Rochdale

In Manchester itself the Liberal Democrats have 38 City Councillors and it will only take 9 more Lib Dem gains from Labour for them to lose control of the City Council

Looking at Manchester's Parliamentary seats in Manchester Withington the Liberal Democrats have 16 out of the 21 Councillors in the Constituency and in Manchester Gorton there are 16 Lib Dem Councillors and only 2 Labour ones

The Liberal Democrats are the real opposition to Labour in Manchester as the Conservatives have no City Councillors in the city - they lost their last seat in 1996

The Liberal Democrats are aiming to take control of Manchester City Council and Liverpool is already being run successfully by the Lib Dems with a strong majority - the North West is returning to its Liberal roots

Across Britain Lib Dem Council Leaders now control over £10 billion of spending representing 12 million people in places from Newcastle to Lands End, from Cambridge to Swansea

The Liberal Democrat national party is providing strong support to this growth in Greater Manchester and the North West. The last year has seen visits to Manchester by Charles Kennedy, Party Leader, Baroness Shirley Williams and the former Party President Lord Dholakia and current Party President Simon Hughes MP.

This support has been hugely boosted at the Regional level by the election last year of Saj Karim as the Lib Dems second Member of the European Parliament for the North West, joining Chris Davies MEP.