People Are Angry – and Now We’ve Shown That Johnson’s Tories Can Be Beaten Anywhere

THE GUARDIAN - OPINION: The brilliant Lib Dem victory in North Shropshire is part of a trend; the default setting of ‘vote Tory’ has been broken

‘In Helen Morgan, voters in Shropshire saw a community activist who shared their anger at an underfunded health service and at soaring ambulance waiting times.’ Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
As the nights draw in and the days grow shorter, the people of North Shropshire have lit a flame of hope to brighten our nation.

The Liberal Democrats have defeated Boris Johnson in Shropshire, just as we did in Buckinghamshire in June. Two heartland Tory constituencies, more than 150 miles apart, written off as foregone conclusions at every past election. Until now.

My party has shown that the Conservatives can be beaten anywhere – because across the villages, towns and cities of our country, people are fed up and angry.

Throughout the North Shropshire campaign, I spoke to lifelong Conservative voters who had decided enough was enough. Many told me loud and clear – they will never vote Tory again.

In North Shropshire and earlier this year in Chesham and Amersham we have seen a fundamental realignment of British politics, a generational shift, in which the default setting of “vote Tory” has been reset. » | Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Kingston and Surbiton | Friday, December 17, 2021

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