Shropshire Star

Seats visited by party leaders on day 20: Key election data

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has now visited 23 seats since the start of the campaign, 20 of which are being defended by the Conservatives.

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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey pets Jenny, the Guide Dog belonging to parliamentary candidate for Torbay, Steve Darling (left), during a visit to Torquay Harbour in Devon while on the General Election campaign trail

The three main party leaders were all on the campaign trail on Tuesday – and all three visited seats that are being defended at the election by the Conservatives.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched his party’s manifesto at Silverstone race course, which is based mostly in the constituency of Northamptonshire South.

It is a seat where the Tories are defending a huge notional majority of 23,671 and which ranks at number 295 on Labour’s target list, needing a swing of 21.2 percentage points to change hands.

It is nonetheless another example of Mr Sunak spending time in a Conservative-held constituency – the 29th visited by the prime minister since the election campaign began.

He has visited only one Labour seat so far: Blyth & Ashington, a new constituency at this election, but one which would have had a notional Labour majority in 2019 of 6,118.

The other two seats in which he has held campaign events are Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross (won by the SNP in 2019) and Belfast East (won by the DUP).

A profile of the constituency of Redcar
A profile of the constituency of Redcar (PA Graphics)

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer visited one seat on Tuesday, Redcar in north-east England, which is ranked at number 51 on his party’s target list.

Redcar has been held by all three of the main political parties in recent years, starting with the Lib Dems from 2010 to 2015, then Labour from 2015 to 2019, and the Tories since 2019.

But prior to 2010 it had been a safe Labour seat since its creation in 1983, and Sir Keir will be hoping to restore Redcar to its status as solid Labour territory.

To do so he will need a swing of 5.5 percentage points in the share of the vote, with the Tories defending a notional majority of 4,878.

Rishi Sunak visited Redcar at the start of June, no doubt aware of the marginal status of the seat.

Sir Keir has now visited 23 constituencies since the campaign began, 16 of which are being defended by the Conservatives.

He has also held events in four Labour seats, two SNP seats, and in Brighton Pavilion which is being defended by the Greens.

A profile of the constituency of Glastonbury & Somerton
A profile of the constituency of Glastonbury & Somerton (PA Graphics)

Sir Ed Davey spent Tuesday ticking off two more seats on his list of Tory targets: Torbay in Devon and Glastonbury & Somerton in Somerset.

Of the two, Glastonbury & Somerton needs a slightly smaller swing to change hands (13.4 percentage points) than Torbay (17.5 points), but both are in a part of south-west England that was once a Liberal Democrat heartland.

Torbay was held by the Lib Dems from 1997 to 2015 before falling to the Tories, who are defending a notional majority of 17,751 at this election.

Glastonbury & Somerton is a new constituency and incorporates part of the now abolished seat of Somerton & Frome, which had been held by the Lib Dems from 1997 to 2015 and again from 2023-24, after the party gained it from the Tories in a by-election on a huge swing of 29.0 percentage points.

For the purposes of comparison at this election, Glastonbury & Somerton has been given a notional Tory majority in 2019 of 14,183.

Sir Ed has now visited 23 seats since the start of the campaign, 20 of which are being defended by the Conservatives.

The other three are the safe Labour seat of Hackney South & Shoreditch, where he launched his party’s manifesto; Cowdenbeath & Kirkcaldy in Scotland, won by the SNP in 2019 and more plausibly a Labour target at this election; and the safe Lib Dem seat of Bath.

A chart showing the number of seats visited by the main party leaders so far during the election campaign, with Rishi Sunak now on 32, Sir Keir Starmer on 23 and Sir Ed Davey also on 23
Seats visited by the main party leaders so far during the election campaign (PA Graphics)

Here is a full list of seats visited by each leader so far, in alphabetical order, compiled by the PA news agency:

Rishi Sunak: Belfast East; Bishop Auckland; Blyth & Ashington; Bury North; Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross; Cannock Chase; Chesham & Amersham; Cities of London & Westminster; Cornwall South East; Crawley; Devon Central; Didcot & Wantage; Erewash; Harpenden & Berkhamsted; Harrow East; Hinckley & Bosworth; Honiton & Sidmouth; Horsham; Macclesfield; Melksham & Devizes; Milton Keynes Central; Northamptonshire South; Redcar; Richmond & Northallerton; St Ives; Stoke-on-Trent North; Stroud; Swindon North; Thirsk & Malton; Vale of Glamorgan; Wimbledon; Wokingham.

Sir Keir Starmer: Bolton North East; Brighton Pavilion; Bury North; Chipping Barnet; Derby South; Finchley & Golders Green; Gillingham & Rainham; Glasgow East; Holborn & St Pancras; Inverclyde & Renfrewshire West; Monmouthshire; Nuneaton; Portsmouth South; Queen’s Park & Maida Vale; Redcar; South Ribble; Stafford; Stevenage; Thurrock; Uxbridge & South Ruislip; Vale of Glamorgan; Worcester; Worthing East & Shoreham.

Sir Ed Davey: Bath; Bicester & Woodstock; Brecon, Radnor & Cwm Tawe; Cambridgeshire South; Cheadle; Cheltenham; Chichester; Chippenham; Cowdenbeath & Kirkcaldy; Eastbourne; Frome & East Somerset; Glastonbury & Somerton; Hackney South & Shoreditch; Harpenden & Berkhamsted; Newbury; Romsey & Southampton North; Runnymede & Weybridge; Shropshire North; Torbay; Westmorland & Lonsdale; Wimbledon; Winchester; Wokingham.

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