He is here with the local Liberal Democrat MP, Gideon Amos, and they enthusiastically knock on doors, pushing leaflets through mailboxes. And they are right to feel sunny: after losing to the Tories in the 2015 general election – they lost all but eight of their 57 seats – the Liberal Democrats stormed home in last month’s local election with 46% of the vote and gaining control of Somerset’s board. After years in the desert, this part of England is finally becoming fertile ground for a Liberal Democrat opposition. The Prime Minister has never recommended Carrie Johnson for government work, says No. 10 – follow the latest updates The big test will come this week, when the Liberal Democrats will try to win the stronghold of Tories Tiverton and Honiton in Thursday’s by-elections. The Liberal Democrats once had 10 seats in this part of the world before undergoing the complete elimination of the Southwest in 2015 after losing all 10 seats. Image: Ed Davey tells Beth Rigby that the Liberal Democrats are once again a “community political party” It would be a huge victory – and a surprise – if Mr. Davey manages to overthrow the majority of 24,000 Tories and take that position. The party says it would be the largest such margin ever to be won in a by-election, but insists it is in their possession after internal polls showed the party was marginally behind only the Conservatives, with 46% support over 44 of the Liberals. Democratic%.
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This emerging battlefield has been dubbed the Blue Wall – parliamentary constituencies in southern England that have traditionally voted Conservative but are generally opposed to Brexit and could be vulnerable to the gains of either the Liberal Democrats or the Labor Party. Two recent midterm elections have confirmed this potential trend, with Buckingham Chesham & Amersham’s true blue constituency turning to the Liberal Democrats in June 2021, followed by a North Shropshire victory in December of that year. the majority of Tories 23,000. in the second largest change from the Tories to the Liberal Democrats (or their predecessors) in by-elections since 1945. Now the Liberal Democrats hope to do it again. Image: Kimmy says Conservatives “haven’t done a great job so far” Mr Davey believes the Liberal Democrat revival is due to a number of factors. There is the long-running detox of the Liberal Democrats that has been so tarnished by the coalition years (I suggest to Mr. Davey that the Liberal Democrats have returned to the protest party, he replies that the Liberal Democrats are probably a “community political party” again). But the Liberal Democrats are no doubt benefiting from the failures of the Boris Johnson administration, either from the long-term turmoil and damage caused by the partygate affair, or from Mr. Johnson’s focus on those Red Wall posts in the north and Midlands. “I talked about the seats in the Blue Wall after the Chesam and Amersham victories, and there was that kind of metropolitan blue wall we’re talking about, and now there’s a rural blue wall as we move into these conservative homes,” says Ed Davy. I have a cup of tea at Piccalilli Line Cafe in Taunton. “There is no doubt, we hear it on the doorstep wherever we are, they feel that the Conservative Party has taken them for granted and that is partly; that they feel that they are focused on other parts of the country and have forgotten other parts of the country.” There is definitely a smell of medium-term government blues and economic frustration as we talk to people enjoying the sun in the Taunton Mall. Kimmy tells me she’s always voted Conservative in the past, but she may not do it now. “I just do not think they have done a great job so far.” Another Conservative supporter tells me something like this: “I just think they’re terrifying nationally. I think they’ve completely misunderstood what ordinary people want and need in terms of the cost of living crisis. I mean, look around, people are really struggling. ». Image: A Conservative fan tells Beth Rigby: “I just think they’re terrific nationally” Amanda, a Liberal Democrat voter, believes the Tiverton next door could turn yellow this time around. “It’s very blue around here, but I think even the real blues are tired of what’s happening, just lies … it’s not good.” For Mr. Davey, this by-election could be a symbol of greater things, as protest votes add up in parliamentary seats and the Liberal Democrats once again become a force in national politics after being so badly burned in the 2015 general election. And part of that for the Liberal Democrat leader is a promise to potential reformers that there will be no coalition with the Conservatives, which he clearly rules out. “I have made it very clear, I will not put the Conservatives back in government. I will not allow Boris Johnson to be prime minister.” As for Keir Starmer, the leader of the Liberal Democrats is less clear, refusing to rule out a coalition or other agreement with the Labor Party, saying this (repeatedly). “I make it clear that we will promote Liberal Democrat policies and as many Liberal Democrats as we have will fight for them. It could be a minority government, who knows what it will be.” Image: A Conservative fan tells Beth Rigby: “I just think they’re terribly national.” Despite the focus on the Red Wall and the Labor counterattack after 2019, the Blue Wall is now another emerging frontier threatening to catch the vast majority of Mr. Johnson in a tweezers movement. “The Blue Wall is crucial to the geography of British politics in the next election,” said Davy, who said the Liberal Democrats were “taking the Tories to heart.” On Thursday, the prime minister will face battles on two major electoral fronts – the Blue Wall in Tiverton and Honiton, and the Red Wall in Wakefield, and he could well lose both, which will only serve to further rattle them. troubled MPs. It also raises a question in my mind as to whether this “progressive alliance” between the Liberal Democrats and the Labor Party will be built in the run-up to the 2024 general election. Mr. Davey will not do any work with Mr. Johnson, but he left me with the obvious impression that he will be dealing with Sir Keir.
