Is two-party politics here to stay or can the opposition recover?

With Theresa May saying she wanted a clear mandate to deliver Brexit, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, who had strongly opposed leaving the EU, saw an opportunity to attract remain voters to his party.

But ultimately many saw it as a choice between Theresa May, and whether they wanted to give her a bigger majority, or Jeremy Corbyn and his “for the many, not the few message”. It was a battle between the right and left.

The Liberal Democrats could have seized the middle ground, but straight from the off the national media focused on Mr Farron’s religious views, and the party found it difficult to get away from that and onto their other messages. There was also the previous coalition with the Conservatives still in people’s minds.

On top of that there was an anti-Tory uprising. Scared of what the Conservatives would do if Mrs May won with the predicted landslide - with talk of further austerity and bringing back fox hunting, for example - left wing activists united.

Cumbria saw this in full force. The national Progressive Alliance held one of its first meetings in the county as Green candidates stood down in Carlisle, Workington, Copeland and Westmorland, instead getting out and urging residents to vote Labour to keep the Tories out. Even some Lib Dems - including Workington candidate Phill Roberts - told people to vote tactically in areas they couldn’t win.

This undoubtedly helped Labour, however the demise of Ukip since the Brexit result was also apparent. As much as Labour gained left wing votes, the Conservatives also won over many on the right. There was no real middle ground.

So where do the opposition parties go from here? Can the Lib Dems carve a new path, will the Progressive Alliance continue and can Ukip recover?

Having only narrowly won back his Westmorland and Lonsdale seat, Mr Farron made a shock announcement that he was standing down as leader. He has since revealed he made the decision just weeks into the campaign, due to questions about his faith and where he stands on issues such as gay marriage and gay sex.

“I spent too much of my life talking about it. People were wanting to talk about theology rather than getting the message across. I am not going to compromise my Christian faith any further. At times I felt I had to do that,” he said.

Although the party failed to really capitalise on the anti-Brexit feeling as hoped, Mr Farron said the party has moved forward since he took over - following a backlash at the polls over the decision to go into Government with the Conservatives.

“When I took on the leadership two years ago we didn’t know what was going to happen. It was fairly clear to me it was about basic survival. The Liberal Democrats could have bled into nothing. I read one article that said what began with gladstone will end with Farron. That was my job - to make sure the party survived.

“To put it bluntly, we saved the party. Could I have continued that further? Possibly. We have had thousands of new members. There are now 105,000 - the biggest we’ve ever had. Now for the first time since Charles Kennedy we have had a General Election where it went up,” he explained.

Although the latest campaign didn’t quite have the impact he’s hoped, neither was it a disaster for the Lib Dems. “I spend my life talking in football analogies, but I’d say it was a good away point,” added Mr Farron.

He said his focus was now on his constituency, concentrating on issues such as NHS and school cuts, though he also continues to argue that the final Brexit deal to be put back to the British people for agreement.

On a local level, the Liberal Democrats once again won 16 seats in the Cumbria County Council elections. With no party securing enough for a majority, the party was left holding the balance of power in deciding whether to go into coalition with the Conservatives or Labour, eventually siding with Labour.

Ian Stewart, who is the new Lib Dem leader on the council, said that what was interesting about their results was that although they won 16 seats, they weren’t the same ones - and several were outside South Lakes, where they traditionally perform well. He is already looking ahead to the next local election in four years time, looking at seats they could potentially gain and how to get their message across.

He said the party’s problem is the same nationally and locally.

“We do not have a national voice in the same way that the Labour Party has one through the print media and through its trade union member relationship, and the Conservative Party has a voice through the print media and through this long-standing perception that it is business-friendly. We’ve not got anything like that so as Liberal Democrats, we have a real challenge getting our message across,” he said.

Among those who gained a seat for her party was new Cockermouth North councillor Rebecca Hanson. Already a relatively new town councillor, her efforts to expose the dangers of controversial local NHS cuts put her in the frame when the Lib Dems were looking for an MP candidate for the Copeland by-election.

She then stood again in the General Election and although she didn’t win, she is happy to have secured a county seat.

“People tell me they were impressed with my campaigning history and what I had achieved. In the Copeland by-election we did really well but we didn’t have the resources for the General Election and didn’t get our literature out until after the postal vote had already gone,” she said.

Mrs Hanson believes nationally, two-party politics was due to the snap election, and given more time they would have performed better. “The vote swung around. If the campaign had gone on a bit longer it could have swung our way.

Nationally Vince Cable has been hotly tipped to take over as leader when Mr Farron formally steps aside, once the summer recess begins.

Mr Stewart said that whoever takes over, there is space in politics for his party. “As the Labour Party has moved considerably to the left, and with the Conservative Party moving further to the right, there is a gaping chasm in the middle,” he said.

The Green Party is also in discussions about where it goes from here. Helen Davison stood down as Carlisle candidate and instead fought for Labour as part of the Progressive Alliance movement.

She received some heavy criticism from Conservative rival John Stevenson, but is happy she made the right move.

“Labour got more votes than last time and reduced the gap between themselves and the Conservatives. I think in this election it was absolutely the right thing to do. It would have felt wrong to stand because there was potentially so much at stake,” she said.

Dr Davison said she has had a lot of positive feedback and has forged strong links with other left wing activists. However she said in future, an alliance would need to have a formal agreement.

“This was all such short notice that there wasn’t time for negotiating deals with parties. We’ve got more time now.

"We need to make it clear that we are a serious political party with a really important message. There’s nothing more important than climate change, so we need to be sure Labour are going to take that really seriously in policy,” she said.

She also wants them to back calls for a change in the voting system, to bring in proportional representation.

Ukip’s Fiona Mills, who stood in Carlisle, also wants an overhaul of the current first past the post voting system.

She saw her vote drop considerably from the last General Election, in line with Ukip’s performance nationally.

Many believe the Brexit referendum result has killed off the party, as Britain will now leave the EU regardless.

Mrs Mills, who helped draw up some of the new manifesto, feels they still have a lot of appeal, but believes she was a victim of tactical voting as people felt their vote would be wasted.