Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey’s battle bus rolled into Newbury today (Saturday).
Continuing his week of daring feats, Mr Davey donned his tennis whites and had a hit around with Newbury’s parliamentary hopeful Lee Dillon in Victoria Park this morning.
But the message was a serious one. Mr Davey said he chose to play tennis in Newbury because it helped talk about leisure, the environment and health - particularly the benefits of enjoying outdoor spaces on physical and mental health.
He was joined by a number of local party members, including town councillor Sarah Storey, who joined them on court - along with a Sky News reporter - for a doubles game.
And Mr Davey, between the backhands and the volleys, spoke about Liberal Democrat policies and gave his backing to Mr Dillon.
He said he thinks Mr Dillon’s chances at the General Election in July are “really good”.
“I think that history of having a Liberal Democrat here and obviously our amazing local government success in West Berkshire, I think has really boosted the chances of us winning this seat,” he added.
“Lee is an amazing candidate.
“I feel personally insulted by what [Prime Minister Rishi Sunak] did on D-Day and we’re already seeing life-long Conservatives in places like Newbury switching to us and I think this is just going to accelerate it.
“They don’t want the extremes. They see Lib Dems as people who are business-friendly, have got great policies on the health service and care, tackling issues on the environment like sewage.
“Sewage is a scandal, the Liberal Democrats have been leading. We were the first party to talk about it three, four years ago now.
“Lee would be such a champion for the area. There are far too many MPs who are elected and forget where they come from.
“Lee knows this area; he’s been a councillor and he gets it; he feels it. If he’s in Westminster as the MP for Newbury, in that David Rendel tradition, he’d be championing Newbury, he’d be championing issues for Newbury every single day.”
Mr Davey said he was at the by-election in 1993 when the Liberal Democrats last took control of the Newbury constituency. David Rendel then held onto the seat until 2005, when he was defeated by Conservative Richard Benyon.
