Newton Abbot election will be "two-horse race"

Lib Dems happy that Labour retreating from battle

The Labour Party’s decision to put Newton Abbot on its list of ‘non-priority’ general election constituencies has been welcomed by the man who wants to wrest the seat from the Tories.

Lib Dem Martin Wrigley, who leads Teignbridge Council, will stand at the  election expected in 2024, aiming to unseat Tory MP Anne Marie Morris.

In the autumn, Labour published a list of seats where it isn’t planning to campaign vigorously, including Torbay; Honiton and Sidmouth; Tiverton and Minehead; Torridge and Tavistock and North Devon.

Now it has updated the list, with all the remaining Devon seats apart from those in Plymouth, Exeter and Totnes among them. It means they are among 211 seats which Labour does not consider to be its key battlegrounds.

The Lib Dems, with Mr Wrigley as their candidate, came second to the Tories in Newton Abbot at the last general election, and Mr Wrigley said the two parties would face off again.

He said: “This constituency will be a two-horse race between the Liberal Democrats and a desperately out-of-touch Conservative party.

“With our local health services at breaking point, local rivers being destroyed by sewage and hardly any local crimes being solved, people have told me it’s time for change.

“The Conservative party is too busy fighting amongst themselves to govern this country. They are taking people here for granted and failing to deliver for our communities.

“Enough is enough.”

Mr Wrigley came second to Ms Morris in the 2019 election, the last time the whole country went to the polls. The Conservative MP had a majority of 17,501 and Labour candidate James Osben finished third.