Lib Dems deny pact with Starmer

SIR ED Davey yesterday admitted the Liberal Democrats were not pushing in Labour strongholds in tomorrow’s local elections.

The party leader denied forming an electoral pact with Sir Keir Starmer but said it was ‘rational’ to put resources into winnable areas.

Tory chairman Oliver Dowden has claimed that Labour is standing down candidates where Lib Dem support is strong to avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote. And he alleged that Sir Ed’s party has returned the favour where Labour is dominant elsewhere.

But the Lib Dem leader insisted yesterday that there ‘isn’t a pact’. Sir Ed told Radio 4’s Today programme his party was ‘fighting

Labour in many areas’, including Hull, Sheffield, Sunderland and Haringey. ‘In other areas we’re fighting the Conservatives,’ he said, adding that he relished a by-election in Tiverton and Honiton, the safe Tory seat being vacated by Neil Parish after he admitted watching pornography in Parliament.

But the Lib Dem leader added his party would give Labour a clear run in areas where they could take on the Tories, telling LBC radio ‘parties need to make rational decisions’.

In a letter to Sir Keir, Mr Dowden accused the Labour leader of planning to ‘deny the voters a proper democratic choice’ in tomorrow’s local elections. Both parties have denied the accusations.