News / Politics
Vince Cable in Bristol to bolster party support ahead of by-election
The Lib Dems shipped in party leader Sir Vince Cable to fight their corner in the battle for a Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze council seat.
Voters in the ward will be taking to the polls on Thursday to elect one new councillor following the resignation of Clare Campion-Smith, who stood down in early April due to health reasons.
Pulling out all the stops to retain the seat in the party colours, the Lib Dems painted the streets of Henleaze yellow on Friday as they turned out to support candidate Graham Donald and joined him on the campaign trail.
is needed now More than ever
The Lib Dem leader soaks up the sun in Old Quarry Park
As children played on the swings on the sunny afternoon in Old Quarry Park, press and supporters clustered around Donald and Cable, reporters questioning the party’s current strengths after the coalition with the Tories saw it lose favour with many core voters.
The Lib Dems were dealt a crushing blow in Bristol in 2015, when MP of ten years Stephen Williams was sensationally ousted from his seat by Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire. The party went on to put up a disappointing performance in last year’s General Election.
But the party leader is intent on rebuilding and insists there is now “an opportunity to send a powerful message to the Government about the mess they’re making with Brexit.”
Among the group gathered on Friday – which included a number of younger supporters – there was a feeling of hope in the air, shining as brightly as the yellow ties displayed by loyal party members.
One college student, who recently joined the Lib Dems, just missed out on voting last time due to his age. He emphasised the need for improvement in how politics is taught in the education system, as all his engagement was done off his own back in his own time outside of core school hours.
Cable made the journey down from his constituency in Twickenham to support Donald, a retired senior civil servant, who has lived in Bristol for 25 years.
Speaking of his own role, the party leader said “it is a lot of hard work, although now the party is gaining popularity and showing success again, the work has become more satisfying”.
Nationally, the party is hoping its strong pro-European stance proves the ticket to success, while locally, Donald will be focusing on preserving Brisol’s libraries and fighting for better social care for disabled individuals and their carers.
His own daughter has a learning disability so he believes that raising a family has taught him the compassion required to thrive in this role. He added that he has enough time to really dedicate to his people now that he has stopped working.
The candidate strongly believes that “positive change can happen when people work hard enough for it”.
https://www.facebook.com/WEHLibDems/videos/2074678472745294/
The Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze ward is represented by three councillors – with the other two seats held by Conservatives Geoff Gollop and Liz Radford.
Polling stations will open at 7am and close at 10pm on Thursday, May 24.
Bristol24/7 will publish full profiles of each candidate in the running this week.
Read more: Date set for Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze by-election
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