Politics

Lib Dems target Islington North, saying “it’s not a safe seat”

The Liberal Democrats are targeting Jeremy Corbyn’s seat of Islington North in the upcoming election, saying it is “not a safe seat”.

Corbyn, who first won the seat in 1983, picked up 73 per cent of the vote in 2017, up 12.7 per cent on the last election.

The Lib Dems, in contrast, garnered just 9 per cent of the vote, yet according to their latest pamphlet it’s all to play for.

Not a safe seat

Jo Swinson’s party used data from the European Elections to suggest the seat could be up for grabs.

According to the flyer, which has been replicated in many other seats across the country, the Liberals picked up 30 per cent of the vote in the last election, one point more than Labour.

But European elections have little bearing on domestic elections, a point which has been made on numerous occasions to no avail.

Jo Swinson

One leader who may be fearful for her seat, however, is Swinson, who may well lose East Dunbartonshire to a rival.

In 2017 she polled ten points ahead of the SNP, but with a significant independence movement gripping the country that gap may narrow this time around.

Swinson lost the marginal Scottish seat to the SNP’s John Nicolson in 2015 in the wake of the independence referendum, before reclaiming it two years later.

This time she faces a strong challenge from Amy Callaghan, who has been given strong backing from the top.

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Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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