After a loss of seven Liberal Democrat seats and the end of 14 years rule over Cambridge City Council, the Liberal Democrats in Cambridge have called a vote on whether they will continue to support the leadership of Nick Clegg.

On Friday 13 June, a special general meeting for all members of the party in Cambridgeshire will be held. A new election for party leader will be triggered if 75 local party associations formally request it from the government. The decision comes after a meeting of the Cambridge Liberal Democrats Executive decided that the best response to the party’s poor track record in the recent elections was to give local members a voice on the matter.

Local chairman Spencer Hagard emphasised that the opinion of local Lib Dem members was crucial in this regard, adding that “this is a hugely important issue and, as such, we follow the tradition of open, inclusive and consultative decision-making at all levels of the party […] our members can now fully discuss this matter together on June 13, and decide whether they can support Nick Clegg’s continuing leadership or consider issuing a notice to the party to hold an election for leader.”

The Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats has faced widespread challenges to his leadership after the Lib Dems lost a total of 250 councillors in local elections. The party also endured its worst European elections for 25 years, losing all but one of its 12 MEPs and coming in fifth place behind the Green Party.

Clegg has denied any intention of resigning, telling the BBC: “The easiest thing in politics, and sometimes in life, when the going gets really, really tough, is to just walk away, to wash your hands of it. I’m not going to do that and my party’s not going to do that.”

If the Cambridge Lib Dems do call for Clegg’s resignation, they could be boosting the profile of the Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, Julian Huppert. Last year Huppert was widely tipped as a possible contender for deputy leader and was ranked the 18th most influential Liberal Democrat by the Telegraph.

However, a recent survey of Cambridge residents found that just one in three could name Huppert as their MP. Research organisation ICM, which carried out the study, suggested that, under Clegg’s party leadership, Huppert is on track to lose his seat to Labour’s Daniel Zeichner at the next general election. They suggested, however, that this was less likely if Clegg was replaced as leader by business secretary Vince Cable or treasury secretary Danny Alexander.

Naomi Farhi, press officer for the Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats (CSLD), acknowledged a lack of success in recent elections but emphasised that much of this was out of the Lib Dems’ control. “The election results were very disappointing, because of our position as the junior partner in a coalition government and issues like the tuition fees rise (which CSLD opposed and which the Lib Dems were undoubtedly scapegoated for) but we are proud to have fought a campaign on something we passionately believe in: Britain's membership of the European Union.”

Farhi also indicated that due to examinations, CSLD’s members have not been able to meet and are yet to establish their position on whether to continue supporting Clegg’s leadership. Given students’ anger towards the Lib Dems following their failure to follow through on their promise to block tuition fee increases, it would appear that there is a growing undercurrent of support in Cambridge for moves pushing for Clegg's resignation.