Parties at war over Lib Dems’ ‘win’ claim
ABITTER row has broken out between local parties after the Liberal Democrats claimed they were most likely to win in Southport at the next general election.
MPs twice voted against calling a general election in the past few days, instead waiting for a delay to Brexit being confirmed, but it remains likely that a vote will happen in the coming months.
In Southport, the Lib Dems pointed to data from the Electoral Calculus website which stated that their candidate, John Wright, was expected to win the seat, slightly ahead of current MP Damien Moore.
The site claims the Lib Dems have a 42% chance of winning, compared with 40% for Mr Moore and just 14% for Labour, despite candidate Liz Savage receiving the second most votes in 2017.
Nationally, the site predicts a 14-seat majority for the Conservatives if a general election were held tomorrow, with the party on 332 seats (up from 318 in 2017); Labour second on 214 seats (262 in 2017); the SNP with 51 (35 in 2017); and the Lib Dems with 31 (12 in 2017).
While cautioning it was only a prediction, Mr
Wright argued that the town wants “something better than the pessimistic politics of Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson”.
Dr John Pugh, who stood down as Lib Dem MP in 2017, said: “Sadly, the only thing that my Conservative successor seems to have done for our town is making it more vulnerable to a nodeal Brexit.
“And although we’re working with Labour to stop this catastrophe from happening, Jeremy Corbyn is still a worrying figure for many here.”
However, those comments received scathing responses from Labour and the Conservatives, who both attacked the previous records of the Lib Dems.
Mr Moore rebuffed the claims of Dr Pugh, who is now a Southport councillor and leader of Sefton Liberal Democrats.
He said: “Contrary to John Pugh’s comments, in the last two years I have delivered more than he did in 16.
“In December, the Southport to Manchester Piccadilly service will return, which was taken away under his watch. The A&E at Southport Hospital has received millions of pounds for an expansion; under John’s tenure, the Children’s A&E was closed. And I have now delivered a £25m cash injection to restore Southport’s economy and high street.
“Under John Pugh and the Lib Dems, Southport has been bled dry and used as a cash cow by Labour-led Bootle Town Hall.”
Meanwhile, Labour’s Liz Savage dismissed the data as “guesses”, pointing to its incorrect prediction for Southport in the previous election in 2017.
She said: “People here are tired of the Lib Dems’ very poor record of achievement locally – something perhaps their candidate isn’t too aware of given he’s only recently started taking an interest in Southport?
“It’s also a bit rich to state that the Lib Dems want to focus on real challenges such as public services or the economy when it was their vicious austerity and callous cooperation with the Tories that caused the problems in the first place.
“They told people here ‘vote for us to keep the Tories out’ – then they betrayed that, put them in and helped them create chaos. Only Labour will stop the Tories and local people are smart enough to know that.”