Lib Dems start picking ‘blue wall’ candidates for next election to keep up pressure on Tories – iNews

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey plans to keep up the pressure on the Conservatives in the blue wall across the south of England by selecting candidates three years in advance of the next general election.

The partys shock by-election win in Chesham & Amersham has given it renewed momentum but it is not clear how they will be able to keep it up, with no more high-profile clashes on the horizon in the coming months.

Sir Ed is adamant that by building from the bottom up, putting grassroots teams in place and starting the process of knocking on doors in traditionally safe Tory seats, the Lib Dems can convince centre-right voters to abandon Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

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He is also keen to avoid the mistakes of the past, when the party won positive coverage in Westminster but had a weak ground game in key target seats.

Cutting the Lib Dem campaign team from 25 people to just five in response to financial worries a few years ago was a massive mistake, the leader told i. He has now restored it to its original size, using savings such as moving to a smaller headquarters which will cost the party 400,000 less.

Speaking in Guildford, a former Lib Dem seat held by the Tories since 2005, Sir Ed said: Were selecting our candidate, do it early and get them on the doorstep.

He added: If we get through these selections, which are now going well apace, well have campaigns, well have people who are going out there and knocking on doors, week in week out, listening to people, and the Tory MPs are going to find them getting worried. Theyll start feeling that at the local level but it will feed through to the national level.

The party overturned a Conservative majority of 16,000 in Chesham & Amersham to take the seat by a margin of more than 8,000 in last months by-election.

It has a track record of overperforming in by-elections, but Sir Ed claims the contest can be a template for future battles with the Tories: In Chesham & Amersham, people hadnt had their door knocked. I went there 16 times, and the first few sessions canvassers came back saying, These people have never had their door knocked and theyve lived here 30, 40 years.

Although weve listened to people liking Johnson in the red wall, celebrity status and all that, I dont think it goes down well in these seats. Their values theyre quite outward looking, quite liberal, patriotic but not nationalist, theyre not convinced by populism, and I honestly had quite a number of doors where people said, Im not voting Tory again while hes the leader.' He concluded: The blue wall is really game on.

The party is emphasising its opposition to the Governments proposed planning reforms, which could see major developments in wealthy commuter areas such as Surrey, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. It claims they are anti-democratic because they would take away the right of councils to block specific individual housing projects.

Under previous leader Jo Swinson, the Lib Dems rode high in the polls but ended up underperforming in the 2019 general election, which saw the party chief lose her own seat. Sir Ed is careful not to criticise his predecessor directly, but has signalled he believes that grassroots campaigning is more important than making an impact in the media.

He is seeking to establish the party as a major voice on a relatively small number of policies, in particular caring of which he has personal experience but accepts that when it comes to some of the most high-profile issues it will be an uphill challenge. The Lib Dems have very rarely managed to make headway in the health debate, Sir Ed said. He claims that by picking its targets carefully, and going at them relentlessly, his party can return from the wilderness.

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Lib Dems start picking 'blue wall' candidates for next election to keep up pressure on Tories - iNews