Liberal Party after larger 1966 Labour victory

[Tamar]

In 1966, Labour under Harold Wilson won a large majority of 96, and came close to winning seats such as Bath, Truro, Yeovil, Cheltenham, Isle of Ely, Hereford, Colchester, or South Gloucestershire (much of which is now covered by Thornbury and Yate), which went on to became areas of Liberal strength when the party revived later on. Would Labour doing better and winning those seats, and therefore changing perceptions of who can defeat the Tories in those areas, make it more difficult for the Liberals to revive in these areas and force them to seek alternative springboards, leading to the Liberals possibly being run by different people and going down a different political route as a result, or would it just be a blip?

 

[Elektronaut]

Probably just a blip. I mean, the Labour vote went from nearly winning those seats to sliding badly within only a few years.

And there are traditional Liberal seats where Labour broke through in these years which went back to the Liberals - Ceredigion is one, and they had a sustained dominance in Brecon during the post-war years, before it eventually went back to the Liberals. (In a by-election yes, but it looks to me like the Liberals were reviving before that)

If the Liberals could revive in seats like Brecon and Bridgwater, which are seats which have pockets of natural Labour support, I don't doubt they would have been able to revive in places without that, and with stronger long-term Liberal strength, had Labour won the seat. Voting isn't all about who can defeat the Tories btw, especially not in rural seats.