ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

Eric Pickles is bullish about the party's chances of "love-bombing" the Liberal Democrats out of swathes of the West Country

I have blogged before about how crucial it is that the Conservatives win a fair number of seats from the Liberal Democrats if David Cameron is to attain a simple majority in the Commons, let alone a robust one.

And no region has a bigger concentration of Liberal Democrat MPs than the South West, where seats held by the Lib Dems account for no fewer than 10% of the seats on the Conservative Party's national top 120 target list, which are as follows (NB some are newly created seats notionally held by the Lib Dems):

6. Cheltenham
11. Somerton and Frome
29. Taunton Deane
43. Chippenham
57. Torbay
63. Cornwall North
86. Truro and Falmouth
97. Camborne and Redruth
101. Newton Abbot
102. Devon North
112. Cornwall South East
119. St Austell and Newquay 

So it is good to read this piece by Michael Savage in this morning's Independent, which shows how seriously the party is taking the campaign against the Lib Dems in the region.

Of course, the most recent county council election results across Somerset, Devon and Cornwall all give cause for Conservatives to be in good heart in these counties - and Savage reports that the Conservatives "surprised themselves with the extent of their progress" at the May elections.

However, Lib Dem MPs - without the burden of being in government or anywhere near it - are able to distance themselves from policy decisions on national issues and concentrate on being glorified social workers in their constituencies.

Anne-Marie Morris adopted for Newton Abbot

West Sussex County Councillor Anne-Marie Morris has been selected for the LibDem held seat of Newton Abbot - beating Hannah Parker.  Cllr Morris was shortlisted for Arundel and South Downs before the last General Election and after Michael Howard had 'sacked' Howard Flight.  The LibDem majority is projected to be 4,573.