Lib Dems seek East Dunbartonshire

While Glasgow was solidly Labour before switching to the SNP in 2015, East Dunbartonshire was once the most precious jewel in the Scottish Liberal Democrat crown.

Jo Swinson won the redrawn seat in 2005 and comfortably retained it in 2010. But five years later she was another high-profile victim of the SNP surge.

John Nicolson, a former BBC television journalist, was the victor. He polled 22,093 votes, enough for a majority of 2,167.

Now the battle lines are being redrawn. Mr Nicolson is bidding for re-election and Ms Swinson, a former minister in the Tory-lib Dem coalition, has returned to try and reclaim the seat.

Mr Nicolson does not fear the prospect of a Lib Dem revival. “I think Jo Swinson must be pretty disappointed with how her campaign has gone,” he said. “There’s no sign of a Lib Dem bounce. They do what they always do – which is fight a relentlessly negative campaign.”

When the snap election was called, the former Lib Dem MP was quick to confirm her status as a candidate.

“I couldn’t not do it,” Ms Swinson said, “in the aftermath of Brexit, and then Nicola Sturgeon’s comments about indyref2.”

The Lib Dems have made it one of their top two targets north of the Border.