Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey identifies Stockport as 'key' election target

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said he aims to make the party a "major force" in Greater Manchester, as he identified Stockport as a "key" target in this week's local elections.

Sir Ed told the MEN that despite Labour "throwing the kitchen sink" at the party's city leader John Leech, he still expected a good turn of results when voters head to the polls on Thursday.

Sir Ed, who served as energy secretary in the coalition government, said he would be keeping a particularly close eye on results south of the city. Read more: Bitter battle for Greater Manchester's most tightly contested council flares up again "A key area for us is Stockport, we've got two parliamentary constituencies there which are marginal between us and the Tories, which we want to take next time", he said. "And of course, we're the just about the largest party but Labour and Conservatives have done some sort of Faustian pact to stop us." In no overall control since 2011, Stockport has been run by Labour for the last six years despite the Lib Dems emerging as the largest group at last year’s local elections.

A shock victory for the Greens in Reddish South left Labour with one fewer councillor than the Lib Dems, appearing to signal that the administration could again change hands.