Punish the Conservatives – Davey
SIR Ed Davey says the Conservatives should be punished at the local elections in Somerset after “taking rural communities for granted”, writes Daniel Mumby.
Somerset voters go to the polls tomorrow to elect 110 councillors to the new unitary Somerset Council, which will officially replace the existing five councils in April 2023.
With less than 24 hours left in the campaign, the Liberal Democrat leader has accused the Conservatives of ignoring the cost-ofliving crisis in rural areas, including the price of heating oil.
He said his party could expect to make significant gains in light of their record running three of the existing district councils in Somerset: Mendip, Somerset West & Taunton and South Somerset.
He said: “We want to see how many seats we can gain off the Conservatives. This is a new unitary – the Conservatives didn’t listen to people who wanted two unitaries, and they went with a single one.
“We have a very strong track record – we run three of the district councils and have a really good reputation for listening to local people and being local champions.
“On the back of that really strong record, with a national backdrop where people feel the Conservatives have been taking them for granted – particularly on the rural cost of living – I believe we can make real progress.
“I’ve visited Taunton, I’ve visited Yeovil during these elections, and there is a sense on the doorstep across Somerset of life-long Conservative
voters being pretty angry with the Conservatives.”
The election is being run on the basis of the existing county council division boundaries, with the number of councillors being doubled from 55 to 110, meaning any party will need to win 56 seats to govern alone.
Despite his general optimism, Mr Davey said it would be a tall order for his party to win outright control of the new unitary.
He said: “It will be very tough to do that, because it’s such a big unitary – it’s absolutely massive. That would be an astonishing result if we did – who knows?
“We are certainly trying our best to win seats across the county. We’re putting in a showing everywhere, and we’re finding that the cost-of-living emergency is the biggest issue.”