Lib Dems to target Labour voters in ‘blue wall’ swing seats, says Ed Davey

Ed Davey: ‘I’d like them to do it because they actually quite like us, and they feel an affinity with us.’ Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

The Liberal Democrats will directly court Labour voters in “blue wall” swing seats to try to build a critical mass of tactical voting in advance of the next election, Ed Davey has said before the party’s first in-person conference since 2019.

The planned campaign of letters in Conservative-held commuter belt constituencies where the Lib Dems are the main challengers will be intended to persuade Labour supporters to lend their vote – not just as a means to change the government but because “they feel an affinity with us”, Davey said.