Is Ed Davey's 'meme-tastic' election campaign increasing Lib Dem chances?

Sir Ed Davey visits Torbay during the General Election campaign. Credit: PA

The Liberal Democrats have long had their sights set on a West Country comeback but are now targeting seats they wouldn't have previously thought possible.

A day after launching his party's election manifesto, Sir Ed Davey continued his campaign with a visit to Torbay on Tuesday - a sign of how the party is feeling about its chances on polling day in three weeks' time.

The Lib Dem leader hasn't been a stranger to Somerset since Rishi Sunak announced the election, but this was his first stop to Devon since it was called in May.

Torbay was taken by the Conservatives in 2010 and was held by the Lib Dems from 1997, but it certainly wasn't on the party's list of top targets until more recently.

"We are on the up across the West Country," a Liberal Democrat source told ITV West Country.

"Seats we didn't think of before are now looking within reach."

So, is Sir Ed's 'meme-tastic' election campaign at least partly responsible for their increased optimism for the upcoming General Election?

The Lib Dem leader joked with audience members at his election manifesto launch on Monday: "It has been quite something, to be told by my team that I have become a bit of a “meme” on social media."

He recalled some of his most eye-catching stunts of the 2024 campaign so far, one of them involving numerous goes down a giant slip n slide near Frome.

Sir Ed Davey visited Torbay the day after his party launched its election manifesto. Credit: PA

But behind every stunt is a serious campaign message, Sir Ed told ITV West Country at the time. When he visited the new Frome and East Somerset constituency in an inflatable rubber ring, his focus was children's mental health.

When he's (often) pictured falling off paddleboards, his aim is to draw attention to the quality of our rivers up and down the country.

The party already felt confident about its chances in West Country seats like Cheltenham, Taunton and Wellington, Glastonbury and Somerton, and St Ives and the Isles of Scilly.

But Tuesday's visit to Torbay signifies a quiet confidence from Sir Ed Davey that his party could achieve more on July 4 than initially expected.

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