Closing in on the Tories

“People are angry and now we’ve shown that Johnson’s Tories can be beaten anywhere”, says Ed Davey writing for the Guardian today. The Liberal Democrats have defeated the Tories in Shropshire, just as we did in Buckinghamshire in June. Ed highlights a fundamental realignment of British politics, in which the default setting of “vote Tory” has been reset and, recognising the Lib Dems as the challenger in these elections, thousands of Green and Labour supporters voted for us too. He points out that this not only reflects anger at Boris Johnson’s government and the national mood, but a community desperately concerned about local issues - an underfunded health service, soaring ambulance waiting times and the struggles of local businesses in times of acute uncertainty. In the Lib Dem candidate Helen Morgan he says “above all, they saw someone like them, who lives and breathes their community, and is determined to make local people’s lives better”.

Shropshire is the second seat taken from the Tories since the 2019 General Election and there are many more to be won- places where the Lib Dems came a close second to the Tories in 2019 and where other communities are sick and tired of being taken for granted by this government and are turning away from the Tories in droves. They know that the Lib Dems care about the issues facing their communities and families and offer something far better. South Cambridgeshire is just one of these places and I am listening to the people who live here. I stand determined to take the fight to Anthony Browne at the next election and help end this Tory government once and for all.

Data on Liberal Democrats second place seats.