Political

North Shropshire latest: Guardian backs Lib Dems, Conservatives lose two councillors

The Guardian has endorsed the Liberal Democrats (for the first time in over a decade, I believe) with its call for Labour voters to back the Lib Dems in North Shropshire:

North Shropshire’s Labour voters ought to set aside their tribal loyalty and back the Lib Dem candidate…

How is it better for Labour’s backers to let the Conservatives keep their parliamentary majority instead of increasing the number of Liberal Democrats at the Tories’ expense? The Lib Dems came second to the Conservatives in 80 seats in England in 2019. Without a Lib Dem revival, Labour has no serious prospect of being in power.

Meanwhile, troubles for the Conservatives with two councillors defecting to splinter right-wing parties (and no sniggering please at the fact that it’s two different splinter right-wing parties they’ve picked):

Two North Shropshire Tory councillors have defected to other parties days before a by-election for a new MP.

Anthony Allen becomes the first elected official of Reclaim, which was set up by actor Laurence Fox last year.

Meanwhile, Mark Whittle joins Reform UK, the party created by Nigel Farage after Brexit. [BBC]

All of which is a darn good reason for Liberal Democrats to make it over to help Helen Morgan‘s campaign. And if you want something to listen to while making the journey…

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3 responses to “North Shropshire latest: Guardian backs Lib Dems, Conservatives lose two councillors”

  1. Shows what is bubbling below the service within the Tories.
    Put an ever increasing pressure on them and the pack of cards will come tumbling down.

  2. What credibility can be given to the Labourlist article which claims that Labour is 7 points behind the Conservatives with the LibDems in third place on 11%?

    There has not been a lot of noise in the national press coming from the Labour camp since the start of campaigning and now, suddenly, they publicise this poll. They have had a handful of write-ups in the local press – the Shropshire Star – and this announcement in Labourlist got some coverage in the local press. If their campaign was doing so well, building from their second place finish in the 2019 general election, then I would have expected a lot of coverage in the national press and media. But, unless I have been looking in the wrong places, I just don’t see it.

    But their announcement about the poll is a bit of a shock.

    • The fact that national journalists who have been to the seat give the Labour claims such scepticism and the absence of senior Labour figures from the North Shropshire campaign trail are good signs of how implausible Labour’s claimed figures are. Or more precisely, the claimed figures from the volunteer press officer on their by-election campaign.

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