Ed Davey: Lib Dems can 'absolutely' win more West Country seats - but 'one step at a time'

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey says his party can 'absolutely' extend its West Country comeback at the next election

Sir Ed Davey says the Liberal Democrats can "absolutely" win more seats in the West Country at the next general election, but it will come "one step at a time".

Speaking to ITV West Country at the party's annual conference in Brighton, the Lib Dem leader says his party has "rebuilt" the trust it lost in 2015 and predicts there are still more seats it can "take from other parties" in the region.

Sir Ed has spent the weekend celebrating with his 72 MPs, after the general election in July saw the Liberal Democrats become the third largest party in Westminster.

They now have 21 MPs in the West Country.

When asked how many seats he was expecting to wake up to in the West Country on 6 July, Sir Ed says: "Well not quite 21, I'm going to be frank with you.

"It is great to be back in the West Country. I think Liberals and Liberal Democrats have a great tradition in Cornwall, in Devon, in Somerset, in Dorset, in Gloucestershire, and in Wiltshire. To have such a great bunch of new MPs - I think they will be great local champions for their constituencies.”

But Sir Ed also admits his party had to rebuild trust after a coalition with the Conservative government in 2010 accelerated its downfall amongst the electorate.

He said: "It’s important when you have to rebuild trust - because we lost trust as a party - but I think we have rebuilt it, and we have to show that we have earned that trust and repay that trust.

"We want to make sure that the new MPs repay the trust that people have given them, and campaign not just on the health service, but the cost of living. The government’s withdrawal of winter fuel payments is going to hurt millions of pensioners, including loads of people across the West Country, and they’ve got to campaign hard on that.

"Our existing and new MPs will need to earn that trust and show that people made the right decision, and then we can build on that. And I think there are seats we can take from other parties."

Most recently, the Liberal Democrats have capitalised on public anger over poor water quality.

Sir Ed is no stranger to a public stunt on water, and, true to style, he turned up at the conference on Saturday on a jet ski.

But the Liberal Democrat leader has always insisted that his stunts convey a serious message - many of them that our water needs cleaning up and companies should be held to account.

He said: "We’re seeding some tentative moves from the government to get tougher on the water industry but they don’t go anywhere near far enough.

"On bonuses of water bosses, we don’t think they should have any until the whole sewage problem is sorted out - and the government isn’t going that far."

Labour's new Water (Special Measures) Bill vows to put water bosses in prison if they fail to co-operate with investigations, and increase fines for polluting companies.

"You will see Liberal Democrat MPs, particularly from the West Country, putting amendments to that Bill to toughen it up, so we do get a much tougher regulator and put more pressure on water companies."

If Labour's proposals don't make a difference, Sir Ed says, "they'll be punished".

"We’re not the government. What we will do though is do the best we possibly can as local champions, and we're already doing that. We want to work constructively with other parties and the water companies.

"We want this solved… and we will work tirelessly to get solutions.

"I want us to be the best opposition in parliament, a much better opposition than the Conservatives. The Conservatives seem too divided and out of touch, taking people for granted."

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