The Guardian view on the Lib Dems’ ambitions: to become the main opposition in Britain

The election result was partly due to voters thinking the Lib Dems are more relevant to the future than to the recent past. This impression is largely down to Sir Ed’s leadership. Having served as a cabinet minister under David Cameron, he knows how the policy U-turns and support for austerity reinforced a sense of duplicity from which the Lib Dems have only just recovered. Sir Ed sees the realignment of politics as establishing a party system based on two main blocs: one conservative and suspicious of change; the other progressive and innovative. He wants the Lib Dems firmly in the latter camp.