Despite losing all its local MPs in 2015, the party is once more the biggest in Cornwall council, and seeking further gains in May

The canvassing team meets promptly in a village hall car park on the edge of Bodmin Moor. A plan of action is hatched and the activists – some fresh-faced, others battle-hardened – sweep through the village of Lewannick speedily and efficiently.

“I didn’t think I’d like this bit, having to knock on people’s doors,” says the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Altarnun ward, Adrian Parsons. “But you meet so many people and you learn so much. Most people want to talk. And the majority seem to be positive about our messages. I’m enjoying this.”

Parsons, a 42-year-old dairy and sheep farmer, is one of a new generation of Lib Dem activists helping to forge what increasingly seems to be a strong revival in the party’s fortunes in Cornwall. Next month, he is hoping to wrest this ward from the Tories as the Lib Dems attempt to gain a majority on Cornwall council. “I’ve always been Liberal Democrat, but I decided to get more involved because I’d become frustrated at how things were going, at how some people are really struggling.”

Thanks to its nonconformist tradition (a cottage where John Wesley used to stay lies within Altarnun), Liberalism has long been a major force in the far south-west of Britain. In recent decades, Lib Dem MPs and councillors have been returned time and again.

People who voted for Brexit are also saying they’ll vote for us in May. I think just about everyone is up for grabs Dulcie Tudor, Liberal Democrat candidate

But then came the crash. At the last Cornwall council elections in 2013, the Lib Dems were beaten into second place by the independents. At the general election two years later, the party was routed by the Conservatives, who won all six Cornish seats. Respected, long-serving MPs were booted out.

More misery was to follow for Europe-friendly Cornish Lib Dems when the UK voted to leave the EU. Though Cornwall has benefited from millions of pounds of European funding over the years, its people voted conclusively in favour of Brexit.

But the tide appears to be turning.

The Lib Dems have won a succession of council byelections in Cornwall and are now once again the biggest group on the council with 43 members, governing in coalition with the independents.

Lib Dem loyalists are buoyed both by the national party’s resurgence and by a report in the New Statesman claiming that Lynton Crosby, who helped the Tories into government in 2015, has warned the prime minister, Theresa May, that if she called a snap general election she would lose all the Lib Dem seats her party gained in Cornwall.

The Lib Dems are fielding candidates in all 123 Cornwall seats at next month’s council election, 31 of them new members. People like Dulcie Tudor, a single mum and former journalist standing in Threemilestone and Gloweth in Truro, are standing for the first time.

Tudor said she decided to put herself forward because she was unimpressed by the level of debate at County Hall and felt that not all the independents were pulling their weight. She believes she can help. Tudor said local issues were what she was being asked about on the doorstep: a dispute over a play park, the infrastructure around a new sports stadium.

Lib Dem policies for Cornwall include building 1,000 council houses by 2020 (Cornwall is both a holiday hotspot and a place of social deprivation with locals pushed out by second-home owners), introducing the living wage for anyone who delivers a contract for the council and protecting adult social care.

There is no mention of the Brexit in the leaflets being handed out in Lewannick – though the Lib Dems position as the pro-Europe party is playing well nationally.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adrian Parsons goes door to door in Lewannick with Baroness Jolly, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on defence. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

“I do think we are the party that gives people the chance to talk about Brexit,” said Tudor. “People who voted for Brexit are also saying they’ll vote for us in May.” In these febrile political times, it is clear that age-old allegiances are breaking down. “I think just about everyone is up for grabs,” Tudor said.

Experienced campaigners are on hand to guide the likes of Tudor and Parsons. The Lib Dem peer Baroness Jolly, the party’s defence spokeswoman, was knocking on doors with Parsons. “The Lib Dems have long been seen as an anti-establishment party,” she said. That became a hard sell when the party governed in coalition with David Cameron’s Tories. “But I think we’re getting that back quickly.”

The door-knocking is backed by technology. The Lib Dems are using a canvassing app called MiniVAN, which was used by Barack Obama. They are also pleased with the return on the money they have invested on boosting Facebook posts. But face-to-face contact is still the Lib Dems’ bread and butter.

Naturally, not all voters are on board. Dave Edwards, who was walking his dog Lulu in Lewannick when he was intercepted by Parsons, said he still felt let down by former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg over tuition fees. “He lied, simple as that. I can’t forgive that.”

Outside the Archer Arms pub, an older woman told Parsons that she had always backed the Tories, but would think about voting Lib Dem because she was upset that improvements to the local GP surgery had not come to fruition. The Lib Dems are strong on such super-local issues.

The Tories are doing their best not to allow the Lib Dems free rein here. They claim more than 20,000 jobs have been created in Cornwall since 2010 and propose to slash the number of councillors to save money. They have also criticised the Lib Dem/independent coalition for putting Truro forward as a European Capital for Culture, despite Brexit.

British government accused of neglecting Cornish culture Read more

They do mention the ‘B’ word in their leaflets, pledging that their councillors will work with the their MPs to make Brexit a success for Cornwall.

Independent John Pollard, the current council leader, does not seem overly concerned by a Lib Dem surge. “The Lib Dems are certainly working very hard. They’re fielding 123 candidates. They’ve won most of the byelections. I think people need to look carefully at the strength of all the parties’ arguments, but always vote for the person who you think will represent your area best. That can be an independent. There’s always a place for independents in Cornwall.”

Back in Altarnun, Dan Rogerson, who lost his North Cornwall seat to the Tories in 2015, was also banging on doors with Parsons. He is not happy that he lost his job, but he believes the losses have led to a sense of renewal.

The party finds itself with fewer policy experts, researchers and press officers, said Rogerson. “It means we’ve had to rely more on our volunteers. We’ve had to find out what our grassroots members can do, what skills they have and it’s been refreshing. It’s like a plant that you cut back hard to make the shoots stronger.”