Welsh Lib Dems 'Bird of Liberty' and a dead parrot/.

It has been pointed  out Ben Lake wining Ceredigion for Plaid last week and increasing the numbers to 4 masked that it was not a good election for the party as they lost votes . Whether it was 'supporters' lending their votes to Labour is open to question , But even if it is true Plaid need to get them back, and many more hew ones.

But ironically for the Liberal Democrats the result masks an even bigger problem.

In 2010 the Lib Dems won a Cardiff Central comfortably

General election 2005: Cardiff Central^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Willott	17,991	49.8	+13.1
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	12,398	34.3	−4.3
	Conservative	Gotz Mohindra	3,339	9.2	−6.7
	Plaid Cymru	Richard Rhys Grigg	1,271	3.5	−1.3
	Respect	Raja Gul-Raiz	386	1.1	N/A
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	383	1.1	+0.5
	Independent	Anne Savoury	168	0.5	N/A
	New Millennium Bean Party	Captain Beany	159	0.4	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Catherine Taylor-Dawson	37	0.1	N/A
Majority			5,593	15.5
Turnout			36,132	59.2	+0.9
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour Co-op		Swing	+8.7

Only to be pushed into third place last week

General election 2017: Cardiff Central^[7][8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jo Stevens[10]	25,193	62.4	+22.4
	Conservative	Gregory Stafford	7,997	19.8	+5.1
	Liberal Democrat	Eluned Parrott[11]	5,415	13.4	-13.7
	Plaid Cymru	Mark Hooper	999	2.5	-2.5
	Green	Benjamin Smith	420	1.0	-5.3
	UKIP	Mohammed Sarul-Islam	343	0.8	-5.6
Majority			17,196	42.6	+21.7
Turnout				68.1

In a large number of seats which in 2010 looked like Lab-LibDem marginals just 10 years ago they finished very badly. Even loosing their deposits.

General Election 2010: Pontypridd^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Owen Smith	14,220	38.8	−15.4
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Powell	11,435	31.2	+11.2
	Conservative	Lee Gonzalez	5,932	16.2	+4.6
	Plaid Cymru	Ioan Bellin	2,673	7.3	−3.7
	UKIP	David Bevan	1,229	3.4	+0.8
	Socialist Labour	Simon Parsons	456	1.2	N/A
	Christian	Donald Watson	365	1.0	N/A
	Green	John Matthews	361	1.0	N/A
Majority			2,785	7.6	−25.7
Turnout			36,671	63.0	−0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−13.3

General Election 2017: Pontypridd^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Owen Smith	22,103	55.4	14.3
	Conservative	Juliette Ash	10,655	26.7	9.4
	Plaid Cymru	Fflur Elin	4,102	10.3	1.2
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Powell	1,963	4.9	8.0
	UKIP	Robin Hunter-Clarke	1,071	2.7	10.7
Majority			11,448	28.7	5.0
Turnout			39,894
	Labour hold		Swing	2.5

Interestingly the Plaid vote held in Pontypridd  and maybe plaid should may more attention to this Constituency , They has a very good  candidate who might have abright future.

General Election 2010: Swansea West^[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Geraint Davies	12,335	34.7	-7.2
	Liberal Democrat	Peter May	11,831	33.2	+4.3
	Conservative	René Kinzett[13]	7,407	20.8	+4.8
	Plaid Cymru	Harri Roberts	1,437	4.0	-2.5
	BNP	Alan Bateman	910	2.6	N/A
	UKIP	Timothy Jenkins	716	2.0	+0.2
	Green	Keith Ross	404	1.1	-1.1
	Independent	Ian McCloy	374	1.1	N/A
	TUSC	Rob Williams	179	0.5	N/A
Majority			504	1.5
Turnout			35,593	58.0	+1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.7

General Election 2017: Swansea West^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Geraint Davies	22,278	59.8	+17.2
	Conservative	Craig Lawton	11,680	31.3	+8.8
	Plaid Cymru	Rhydian Fitter	1,529	4.1	-2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Michael O'Carroll	1,269	3.4	-5.6
	Green	Mike Whittall	434	1.2	-3.9
	Socialist (GB)	Brian Johnson	92	0.2	+0.1
Majority			10,598	28.5
Turnout			37,345	65.5	+5.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.2

General Election 2010: Newport East^[9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jessica Morden	12,744	37.0	-8.2
	Liberal Democrat	Ed Townsend	11,094	32.2	+8.5
	Conservative	Dawn Parry	7,918	23.0	-0.5
	BNP	Keith Jones	1,168	3.4	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Fiona Cross	724	2.1	-1.7
	UKIP	David Rowlands	677	2.0	-1.0
	Socialist Labour	Elizabeth Screen	123	0.4	-0.4
Majority			1,650	4.8
Turnout			34,448	63.6	+5.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.3

General Election 2017: Newport East^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jessica Morden	20,804	56.5	+15.8
	Conservative	Natasha Asghar	12,801	34.8	+7.5
	UKIP	Ian Gorman	1,180	3.2	-15.2
	Liberal Democrat	Pete Brown	966	2.6	-3.8
	Plaid Cymru	Cameron Wixcey	881	2.4	-1.1
	Independent	Nadeem Ahmed	188	0.5	N/A
Majority			8,003	21.7	+8.3
Turnout			36,820	64.3	+1.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Yes Plaid also lost their deposits in far to many seats but for the Lib Dems who only seven years ago looked kike serious challengers in a number of seats 

But the Lib Dems have not only lost their deposit throughout Wales they have also lost their Heartland and its only Ceredegion  is a seat which could be described as a winnable marginal seat.

'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies!'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig!'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!

With La Pasionaria (Kirsty Williams) bedded in the Welsh Assembly Government  they don't even have a MP or AM who can use the 'luxury of opposition" to voice populist  policies.

Can they recover of course . but its going to be harder after this Election and thier  little bar graphs and " only the Liberal Democrats can defeat X or Y' is going to look laughable.