Lib Dem leader visits Wokingham as he eyes up a ‘blue wall’ seat
The Liberal Democrat leader was meeting residents and small business owners in a bid to win voters as part of his “blue wall tour”.
Sir Ed said: “It is great to be in Wokingham and the response we are getting on the doorstep has been really, really strong.
“There is a momentum behind the Liberal Democrats across the town.”
With local elections in May this year, and a general election in 2024, Sir Ed has identified a number of Conservative strongholds which he thinks his party could overturn.
Of the 54 councillors who make up Wokingham Borough Council, 31 are Conservative, 18 Lib Dem, three independent and two Labour.
At the general election in 2019, Conservative MP Sir John Redwood received a majority of 7,383 votes over then Lib Dem representative, Dr Phillip Lee.
Sir Ed was joined by Cllr Clive Jones, leader of the Wokingham Liberal Democrat Group, who has recently been announced as the Lib Dem candidate for 2024.
Cllr Jones said: “We have done very well in local elections
over the last few years and there is every chance we could make more gains on Thursday, May 5.
“As far as the election in 2024, we have a Conservative MP who is totally out of touch with the people in Wokingham and we have a really good chance of overturning that.”
Sir Ed believes Wokingham could follow recent by-election victories in North Shropshire and Chesham and Amersham in turning a traditionally blue seat yellow.
He said: “There’s a sense
the Conservative party has taken people for granted in Wokingham and our party is really listening to people.
“Conservatives have made a bit of a hash of things locally and nationally with people worried about the cost of living and issues with healthcare.”
As part of his visit, Sir Ed went to the Wokingham Medical Centre (WMC) to meet representatives of Healthwatch Wokingham and speak to patients.
The centre has more than 20,000 registered patients and
many have previously raised concerns that it fails to meet its duty of care obligations.
Sir Ed said: “People here are struggling to get appointments they desperately need and GPs are under more pressure than ever.”
“Hard-working GPs are overstretched and people are left waiting too long for treatment or even an appointment, it cannot go on like this.”
Figures show the number of patients per GP is 2,068 in the Berkshire West CCG, 18% above
the average in England.
Sir Ed was also critical of housing targets in Wokingham and said developers have been given a “free for all by the Conservatives on local land”.
He said: “The Liberal Democrat group here has put people first, listened to their worries about planning and taken the Council to task.“
The criticism follows government targets of 768 new homes being built in Wokingham every year between 2018 and 2038.
This decision has triggered the local Lib Dem group to send a petition to Michael Gove, secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, to reduce the target.
The petition has so far gained more than 700 signatures.