Q&A: Conservative MP on being 'realistic' and 'shooting straight' ahead of local elections

• Watch Johnny Mercer speak to David Wood here.

A week from today, people from across Devon will be heading to polling stations to vote in a series of local elections.

So far, we've spoken to Sir Kier Starmer about launching his local election campaign in Swindon and today we speak to Plymouth MP, Johnny Mercer.

Read the full Q&A with our political correspondent David Wood.

How worried are you about this set of local elections?

"Look I think if you look at it in around, where we are - 13 years in this government.

"We have to be realistic about what might happen, we have to be realistic about where we are in the polls but you know I'm clear the Conservative Party is built on our local activists, local councillors who work so hard day in, day out, week in, week out, that it's so important that people go and vote for these people.

"I'm not particularly political if you look across the spectrum in my experience and you look at your local conservative councillor - you're going to get a lot more out of them than you will do from other parties.

"They're in it for the right reasons and I think you've got to go and vote on May 4 for the local conservatives.

You don't sound hugely confident, are you?

"Well, I'm realistic. I'm not going to butter things up and I shoot straight.

"We've been in government for 13 years, I think we've got a lot to lose in this election but I absolutely do not subscribe to this idea that there's going to be the wipe-out that you've seen in the polls or anything.

"I've been knocking on doors for weeks now in Plymouth and across the country and actually, the feeling that I get is very, very different from up here in Westminster, it's different from the polls.

You're one of two Devon's two ministers to sit on Rishi Sunak's cabinet table - can the people of Devon still trust him as a very new Prime Minister?

"I've been here for nine years now and this is the first time for a long time that I've really enjoyed it, being part of a professional dedicated, swept up team who are really tackling some difficult challenges - migration which people are rightly concerned about, there are no easy answers in that space.

"You look at the health service after Covid but you feel like you're part of a really first-class team here who are really delivering and grappling with the challenges of the day.

"Actually improving people's lives and I think the people in Devon and Plymouth can rest comfortably that you've got a really smart guy in charge and we're doing everything we can to support him.

In Plymouth, we've seen the Conservative party that has been leading the council divided. You even said recently that Labour as the largest official party currently should look to form the administration there - is that still your message to voters?

"I want Plymouth to have a good, stable local council leadership and clearly I want that to be Conservative but there have been real challenges in the local Conservative group - I think everybody can see that."

Does that disappoint you as a national representative for the Conservatives?

"My repeated drum banging on this has been for me to have a good strong, local team of a collaborative team of conservatives who are going to allow me to work with them and deliver what's happening at Government at a local level for Plymouth.

"You can forget veterans and all that stuff, that is my number one task that I've tried to focus on over the years and we've been very successful in some areas. It's a lot easier to do that of course when things are more stable."

If we just zoom out from Plymouth for a moment and look right across Devon. Last year, the Tiverton and Honiton byelections saw the Liberal Democrats making inroads in the more rural parts of the county. How worried are you?

"Lib Dems are the closet challengers to many of my constituency neighbours in Devon.

"I would urge people to really look at the facts around this. Look at the facts around how much you pay in council tax, look at the facts around your local services and bin collections and things like that and that's worth being out on the doors.

"If you really look into the detail, you get past all the social media clips and people grandstanding and look at local services and what you're provided with and what you pay for them and how your council behaves - then any reasonable person can't come to any other conclusion other than to vote Conservative."