These are five important Lib Dem-Tory constituencies in the general election
Over the course of the election campaign the Liberal Democrats have expanded their number of target seats as polls predict Ed Davey’s party could even become the main opposition in Britain. With the general election two days away, here’s a look at five key battleground seats which the Lib Dems are hoping to take from the Conservatives.
Godalming and Ash
Jeremy Hunt has described being on a “knife edge” in the battle to retain his seat in the affluent Godalming in south-east England. It would be a symbolic collapse of support in the Conservative ‘home counties’ around London if the Chancellor were to lose on Thursday.
Polls have the Liberal Democrats on course to switch 24 former Tory seats in the south-east England region, with Godalming becoming a Lib Dem target as polls predict its candidate Paul Follows could clinch it in a narrow race.
Wimbledon
Targeting the London commuter belt in leafy Wimbledon, the Lib Dems have their eyes on the affluent constituency of Wimbledon where the Conservatives won a slim majority in 2019.
Although the seat is a three-way race, according to the Financial Times Labour has diverted activists away from this Lib Dem target seat in order to maximise defeats against the Conservatives.
Both Rishi Sunak and Ed Davey have visited the seat over the election campaign period showing their hopes to win the seat, which has elected Tory MPs since 1885.
Witney
Over the weekend Ed Davey visited Oxfordshire constituencies where the party now believe they can beat the Conservatives in former Tory heartlands.
Witney was the former seat of David Cameron and the area has been conservative for over 100 years. But over the course of the campaign period, the Lib Dems have overtaken the Conservatives as the favourite to win the seat in YouGov polling. It would be historic if the party manages a shock win in the former prime minister’s safe seat along with other neighbouring seats they are eyeing up such as Didcot & Wantage.
Maidenhead
Therese May’s former seat is among those that the Liberal Democrats are now targeting as the polls have boosted their drive to go in for previously not even considered Tory safe seats.
Polling is conflicted over whether the Lib Dems could take the constituency, which has been Conservative since its creation in 1997. But tactical voting could play a significant role in increasing the Lib Dems chances here.
Carshalton and Wallington
Known as number one on the Lib Dems’ target list, Ed Davey’s is looking to take this constituency back having once been a Lib Dem stronghold for 22 years. And it looks like the Lib Dem candidate Bobby Dean is up for a good chance of making it happen this year, which would see the blue wall in south-west London tumble.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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