Labour voters in Mid Bedfordshire are warned not to repeat the “mistake made in Bedford borough”.
“Dave Hodgson [the former Bedford mayor] lost very, very narrowly [in May] and I think it’s a message to Labour voters in Mid Bedfordshire to look at what happened in Bedford,” said Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey on a recent visit to constituency.
“Labour claimed they were going to win, but they came a poor third.”
The leader of the Lib Dems, whose party saw significant increases across the UK in May’s local elections, was in the area on Tuesday (20 June) to assist their candidate’s pre-by-election campaign.
Cllr Emma Holland-Lindsay was selected earlier this week and is credited as being one of the group of Lib Dem candidates that helped to ensure there were no Conservative representatives in the Leighton Buzzard and Linslade area following last month’s local election.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the councillor for Leighton Linslade West how she feels the people who voted for Lib Dems in south west Bedfordshire are feeling about the party at the moment.
“My focus is on this by-election,” she replied. “I’m going to be out there campaigning to listen to the views of Mid Bedfordshire.
“I am a councillor, I understand the issues in Central Bedfordshire, I’m chair of the Social Care, Health and Housing Scrutiny Committee on Central Bedfordshire Council.
“That gives me an opportunity to raise the issues that people in this county are mentioning to me.
“Health services is the number one top issue, so I’m going to be focusing on using my role as a councillor to speak up for the people of Bedfordshire,” she said.
Ms Holland-Lindsay said Mid Bedfordshire has been neglected by the Conservatives. “People don’t know if the NHS will be there for them when they need it,” she said.
“[People are] really concerned about things like policing, Bedfordshire Police has had quite a challenging time and people are telling me that they’re worried that the police won’t be there when they call them.
“Those are the types of issues that people are raising on the doorsteps, but of course, the cost of living crisis is at the front of the mind as well,” she said.
She added: “I want to be a hard-working local champion, who will be there standing up both in the constituency and in parliament and raising the issues that matter to them.
“People have been let down for far too long by the Conservative Party and it’s an opportunity to send a message to Westminster – Liberal Democrat by-election victories in the past have sent shock waves through Westminster.
“So people here have got a chance to send a message to the Conservatives about what needs to change and I think we can be the party to do that,” she said.
Warning to voters
Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey, has given his full backing to Ms Holland-Lindsay, but suggests voters need to be tactical in their voting too.
“…when you look at the result in Bedford, which I think it’s very sad because Dave was a fantastic mayor, there’s a lot of people wishing he was still the mayor,” he claimed.
“And I think there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse and some people who voted Labour are really regretting it.
“What I’d say to people in Mid Beds is look at Bedford, if you don’t get behind the candidate who can really beat the Conservatives, which is clearly the Liberal Democrats – it was in Bedford [and] is in here in Mid Beds – then you’ll end up with the Tories just scraping in – don’t make that mistake.”
Sir Davey said this was his third recent visit to the constituency which has been held by the Conservatives since 1931.
Read: By-election triggered in Mid Beds as Tory MP Nadine Dorries quits
“I can assure you that we are finding lifelong Conservatives switching to us and Labour Party members saying ‘we know Labour can’t win here, you are the challengers to the Conservatives’,” added Mr Davey.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Mr Davey when he believed the current MP, Nadine Dorries, will follow through with her “quit with immediate effect” claim.
“I have no idea, I don’t really know Nadine Dorries,” he replied.
“I get a sense that people have felt that she’s not been as present as a local MP as they might have wanted to, I’ve absolutely picked that up already.
“So we’ll see what she wants to do, it’s up to her.
“But I think people are a bit confused at the moment, locally people keep telling me ‘well, she said she was going to resign with immediate effect, and now she’s not, what is she playing at?’
“And there’s a bit of cynicism about her motive so it’ll be what it’ll be,” he said.
“If people put their trust in her [Emma Holland-Lindsay], and I really hope they do, they’re going to get a fantastic local MP like they’ve never seen before.
“She will be the best MP Mid Beds has ever had.”
Nadine Dorries’ Office was approached for a comment, but it did not respond at the time of publication.
by John Guinn, Local Democracy Service,
and Paul Hutchinson for the Bedford Independent
