THE STARTING gun on the North Shropshire by-election has started with a visit to Whitchurch by the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey.

Sir Ed visited the town on Sunday to the Liberal Democrats’ campaign for North Shropshire and is the first party leader to visit the constituency since Owen Paterson resigned.

He believes his party are the main challengers to replace Mr Paterson, who resigned after the lobbying scandal, pointing to their recent strong local elections performance, where they finished second in North Shropshire with the Greens and Labour in a third and fourth place.

“It is clear that the Liberal Democrats are the challengers to the Conservatives in North Shropshire. Labour and the Greens cannot win," said Sir Ed.

“For too long, the Conservatives have left North Shropshire lagging behind with the local NHS facing real difficulties.

"A Liberal Democrat by-election victory would send a powerful message to the Conservatives that the people of North Shropshire need to be listened to.”

Helen Morgan, who received just 10 per cent of the overall vote at the 2019 General Election – half of the Labour share – said: “Sir Ed’s visit is a real boost to our local campaign and shows just how seriously the Liberal Democrats will be taking this election.

“Speaking regularly to local people, we know just how frustrated they are that they are not being listened to by the Conservative Government.

"People are very frustrated that Shropshire continues to be left behind with our NHS struggling to cope and real difficulties getting an appointment with a GP.

“In May, we proved that the local Liberal Democrats are the challengers to the Conservatives and we are looking forward to welcoming Sir Ed back to North Shropshire to support our campaign for local people.”