Honiton: Liberal Democrats say they are in a strong position to win by-election

Cllr Jamie Kemp is the Chair of the East Devon Liberal Democrats and he told Nub News that his party are capable of winning the upcoming by-election.

It comes as former MP for Honiton and Tiverton Neil Parish resigned after admitting to watching pornography on two occasions in the House of Commons.

Neil Parish (By Richard Townshend - https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/Members/4072/Portrait?cropType=ThreeTwoGallery: https://members.parliament.uk/member/4072/portrait, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86677934)

Last week, two female MPs claimed they had witnessed a male Conservative MP watching pornography on his phone whilst at work in parliament. Days of speculation followed over who the male MP might be, and on Friday it was revealed to be Mr Parish.

After initially stating that he would only stand down if he was found guilty, Mr Parish bowed to growing pressure over the weekend and resigned.

Jamie Kemp

Cllr Kemp's ward is Exe Valley. He said: "The events over the weekend and the subsequent resignation of Neil Parish have again shown how the Conservative party is mired in sleaze.

"Once again, the people of the UK and more importantly, those in Tiverton and Honiton constituency, have been badly let down.

"The Lib Dems have already shown we can take rural seats off the Conservatives following our shock win in North Shropshire last year.

"In fact, we are already hearing of much support, including Independent Claire Wright who came 2nd in the 2019 General election, for East Devon, with 40% of the vote.

"Voters in Devon have a long tradition of supporting the Liberal Democrats as strong local champions and the main opposition to the Conservatives. It is time we gave the constituents of Tiverton and Honiton and those in East Devon, an MP who will represent them in the manner they deserve.

"People in rural communities here, including many lifelong Conservative voters, are fed up with being taken for granted by Boris Johnson."

The constituency for Honiton and Tiverton is a Conservative stronghold. It has returned a Conservative MP in every election since its creation in 1997. Neil Parish was elected to represent the area in 2010 and in the last election (2019) he held with a 24,239 majority, which was 60.2% of the total number of votes.

The Liberal Democrat Party have been runners up in the constituency four times and Labour twice.