Liberal Democrat Ed Davey has brought his electoral campaign to Tunbridge Wells where polls are neck and neck. A full list of candidates is available on KentOnline.
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00:00Oliver, what can you tell us from today?
00:04Honestly, Abby, I should be in Victor's sport for the amount I ran around today
00:07chasing after the Liberal Democrat leader and his parliamentary candidate.
00:11And although he did stumble a bit throughout his obstacle course here,
00:16lots of running around on his part,
00:18he did bounce back a bit like the polls have bounced back in the Liberal Democrats' favour
00:22earlier this week when they launched their campaign.
00:24They saw an increase in their point percentage, a vote share in some polls at YouGov.
00:29Earlier this week they launched their campaign,
00:31which sees a lot about green spaces being mentioned.
00:35Obviously, as you see around me on a very rainy day in Tunbridge Wells,
00:38lots of greenery and it is a very rural county.
00:41We are part of the Greenbelt here and also an area of natural beauty,
00:46the High Weald area of natural beauty, in fact.
00:50So wildlife, housing, big issues, as well as access to green spaces.
00:56But we have heard in this local area just near Bewell Water
00:59about campsites being a disruption to local wildlife.
01:04And I put that to Ed.
01:05Is his party doing enough to bridge the gap between recreation and conservation?
01:11It's a really important balance to strike.
01:14And the way you do it is you work with the local community.
01:17You work with the environmental experts.
01:20I think it really is important that people have greater access to green spaces.
01:24The Liberal Democrats take a very different approach,
01:26which should really reassure people worried about the Greenbelt.
01:29We take a community-led approach.
01:31So the community is very much at the heart of that.
01:34And it means that you deal with the infrastructure issues,
01:36whether it's social infrastructure or the physical infrastructure,
01:38at the same time.
01:40And you get the housing that the community needs.
01:42Where our approach has been applied in this country and elsewhere,
01:45it's been fantastic.
01:47It's produced great quality housing,
01:50but in places that mean the environment can still be protected.
01:53This is possible, but not under the Conservative approach,
01:56where the developers hold all the power.
02:02It's not just about the manifesto here, obviously.
02:05He's here on behalf of his parliamentary candidate, Mike Martin.
02:09Tunbridge Wells is a target seat.
02:11They're hoping to bridge the gap with some of those Conservative voters
02:15who have voted Conservative for a long time.
02:18Neil Mahapatra has recently come out as a local candidate
02:21in the profile to the KM,
02:23slightly critical of Rishi Sunak in it.
02:26And it's going to be a tightly-fought contest.
02:28There's very little in it.
02:30And I asked Mike Martin earlier today
02:32if he's the right man for the job to turn that polling gap around.
02:37Some polls are saying that the Conservatives
02:39are slightly ahead of the Lib Dems.
02:41Other polls are saying the Lib Dems are slightly ahead of the Conservatives.
02:44All of this is less than 1%.
02:46It's within the margin of error.
02:48Basically, Tunbridge Wells is too close to call.
02:51It's neck and neck.
02:53You've got two choices. You can vote Tory or you can vote Lib Dem.
02:56None of the other parties can win.
02:58And no matter who you are in Tunbridge Wells,
03:01most people look at that choice and think that they want change,
03:04they want a fresh start.
03:06And a fresh start in Tunbridge Wells means voting Lib Dem.