Political parties in Montgomeryshire will this morning launch their election campaigns following yesterday’s Commons decision to call a General Election for December 12.
The announcement has effectively brought to an end the reign of Conservative MP, Glyn Davies, and triggers an intriguing fight for a seat that will see the Liberal Democrats keen to regain their former territory and Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Brexit Party all looking to make an impact and break the Tory/Lib Dem stranglehold here.
Mr Davies, 75, removed Lembit Opik from the Montgomeryshire hot seat in 2010 and was re-elected twice, the last time in 2017 with a 9,285 majority.
But the strong Brexiteer announced in May that he would stand down at the next election and last night confirmed that he has already cleared out his Westminster office.
“A real milestone day for me,” said Glyn. “My career as an MP effectively ended. All the meetings I had arranged for next few days are cancelled. Cleared my office this morning, even if the election was in doubt until excellent Deputy Speaker ruled out amendments to today’s General Election Bill this afternoon which sought to add 16 year olds and EU citizens in the UK to the electorate. Quite rightly. These are issues for another day, another Bill.
“Anyway it’s ‘Game On’. General Election December 12.”
Mr Davies went on to say that he “really didn’t want this election” and that he wanted his party to “deliver Brexit first”.
But he added: “Boris (Prime Minister) is right. The opposition parties will just keep on delaying Brexit, no matter what. In the end, there was not much choice. We need to elect MPs who will deliver Brexit and let our politics recover and replace what’s become a ‘Zombie Parliament’. I will miss it though.”
While the local campaigns will officially begin, in reality the parties have been ready for some time with the main candidates already in place. Craig Williams will replace Mr Davies as the Tory candidate, County Councillor Elwyn Vaughan will represent Plaid Cymru, while Kishan Devani will stand for the Lib Dems. Kait Duerden is the local Labour Parliamentary candidate. Montgomery resident Oliver Lewis will stand for the Brexit Party.
MyWelshpool wishes all of the candidates the best for their campaigns ahead.