Sir Ed Davey has launched his party's local election campaign by flipping a giant hourglass in Harpenden.

The party leader said the prime minister "might be hoping the tide will turn as he squats in Downing Street" as he stood in front of the giant hourglass, emblazoned with the words "Time's Running Out Rishi".

He told a crowd of party campaigners Rishi Sunak had "bottled the May election" – because the prime minister had not called a general election for the same day as the local elections throughout England.

The Liberal Democrats' stunt took place 43 days before polling day – Thursday, May 2. The exact date for the next general election is yet to be set.

Sir Ed told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "There seems to be lots of people switching to the Liberal Democrats across Hertfordshire.

"They've seen what we do in local government – the amazing work we've done in St Albans, the amazing work that the Mayor of Watford has done."

After the 2023 local elections, Liberal Democrats make up the largest party across Hertfordshire's 10 district and borough councils with almost 180 councillors.

The Conservatives – with 10 out of 11 members of parliament in Hertfordshire and a majority on the county council – have shy of 140 district council members.

Voters in seven Hertfordshire council areas will elect district council members in May – in Broxbourne, North Herts, St Albans, Stevenage, Three Rivers, Watford and Welwyn Hatfield.

These "lower tier" authorities are responsible for a range of services including waste collection, leisure centres, housing and planning.

"Different local areas have different challenges," Sir Ed said, "Some will have challenges with flooding, for example, and we will need to make sure water companies are being held to account for sewage dumping.

"Others, it will be about improving nurseries and childcare.

"Others, it will be about making sure after Conservative mismanagement that the budget is sorted out.

"What we've seen across the country is Conservative councils mismanaging their budget, councils are going bankrupt.

"Local government is in a real mess at the moment."

Several authorities have declared effective bankruptcy because their council members could not agree on "balanced" budgets.

Among them is Woking Borough Council in Surrey, where the Liberal Democrats won a majority in 2022 – taking over from the Conservatives – before filing a Section 114 notice for effective bankruptcy in 2023.

Conservative-run councils in Thurrock and Northamptonshire, and Labour administrations in Birmingham, Croydon and Nottingham have also filed "effective bankruptcy" notices in recent years.

The Conservative government in Westminster has handed a £64 billion package to councils in 2024 – up 7.5 per cent on the previous year.

According to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the package will "bolster council budgets in England".

In a statement, the government said: "The additional funding has been made possible because of the government sticking to the plan and making the right long-term decisions to deliver on our economic priorities of halving inflation – which has already more than halved – growing the economy and reducing debt."

Sir Ed added: "Many councils look after social care, and that's one of the things we've been making a really big thing of."

He said: "If we don't sort out social care, which is a big responsibility for many local authorities, we can't sort out the NHS.

"I've been saying if you care about the NHS, you've got to care about care – and that means social care, delivered by many local authorities.

"It also means supporting family carers, looking after loved ones."

Councillor Chris White is the Liberal Democrat leader of St Albans City and District Council, which includes Harpenden.

He said: "Bluntly, all councils need a decent lot of funding.

"We're always asking for money but this time it's getting really quite critical because at the moment we are surviving by putting up fees, and car parking charges and people are getting fed up with that."