Lib Dem leader Ed Davey launches 'Tory Removal Service'

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Lib Dems unveil “Ed Davey’s Tory removals”

The Liberal Democrats are the «Tory Removal Service», Sir Ed Davey has said as he began 2024 campaigning in seats in Surrey held by senior ministers.

The party leader drove a poster van displaying the message through Guildford, a Lib Dem election target.

He is also visiting the constituencies represented by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Communities Secretary Michael Gove.

The Lib Dems have won four seats from the Tories in by-elections since 2019, three of them in the south of England.

These were in Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire, Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, and Somerton and Frome in Somerset, increasing the party's number of MPs to 11.

Mr Gove held Surrey Heath with a majority of 18,349 over his Lib Dem opponent at the last general election, but the Lib Dems are seeking to build on a series of gains in recent local polls.

They took control of Surrey Heath Council in May 2023, and have also become the largest party on Waverley Borough Council in Mr Hunt's area.

A leaflet accompanying the poster describes the Lib Dems as the «Blue Wall's Premium Conservative MP unseating service», including repairing NHS waiting times, ending raw sewage discharges, and tackling cost-of-living issues.

Sir Ed also called for the general election to be held in May, adding «let's make it moving day for this Conservative government».

He said the party would put forward legislation next week restoring the Fixed Term Parliaments Act — introduced by the coalition government in 2011, but repealed by Boris Johnson's administration in 2022 — which would force a general election on 2 May.

He told an audience of cheering activists — some of whom were carrying