Ed Davey Visits Alpaca Farm near Wem in Shropshire

Shropshire Star

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00:00I think people are saying that the Conservatives who held the seat for 200 years,

00:05their MPs really never turned up and did their work, and Helen has.

00:09And I think people are saying we deserve to get behind her.

00:12And she's been getting behind farmers and people in this wonderful rural part of our country.

00:18And it may be unusual to be in an alpaca farm,

00:21but it's part of how our rural countryside is changing and diversifying.

00:27This is great for tourism. Lots of children and families come here.

00:31It's great for mental health and well-being. It's great for the economy.

00:34And Helen and the Liberal Democrats are supporting it.

00:37Well, I've said that I don't think politicians should take themselves too seriously.

00:41A little bit of self-deprecation doesn't go amiss.

00:46But we should take the voters' concerns really seriously.

00:50And actually, this is a serious message here about our rural economy

00:55and making sure we're getting behind our farmers who've had such a tough time,

00:59and also remembering our rural communities.

01:03Their health service has been particularly badly hit under the Conservatives.

01:08And people used to think that rural Britain used to vote Conservative.

01:12I don't think we're going to this election,

01:14whether it's rural communities in mid Wales, here in North Shropshire,

01:17down in the West Country, up in Cumbria.

01:21We're finding that people are really quite let down by the Conservatives.

01:27And I think they like what they're hearing from us,

01:30on health and care and the economy and the environment.

01:33So, we'll see. Obviously, it's up to voters.

01:36Hello, Pelly. It's up to voters.

01:38But I'm increasingly excited by what people are saying.

01:42They seem to really want to get behind the Liberal Democrats this time.

01:45I look at polls. I only care about elections results.

01:49There are great results in this Parliament, actually.

01:52I mean, Helen Morgan winning here in North Shropshire,

01:55and three other by-elections in areas that were previously considered safe Conservatives.

02:01And in the council elections across the country, just last month in May,

02:06we pushed the Conservatives to third place in the English local elections.

02:11So, we've shown it can be done in places that were true blue before.

02:16We've shown that we can overtake the Conservatives in local election results.

02:20So, we're not going to take anything for granted.

02:22We're going to be working really hard every minute, hour and day till the 4th of July.

02:27I've said to our teams, you know, the problem with the Conservatives,

02:30they have taken too many people, too many communities for granted for so long.

02:35People who've been previously loyal to them.

02:37And I think we're finding people are saying,

02:39you've tried us too much, you've let us down, you're out of touch.

02:45And I'd like to think those people are looking at us

02:48and are feeling very comfortable with our positioning and our ideas,

02:52our policies, our priorities, and are coming our way.

02:55Well, there's lots of things that need to be done.

02:57First of all, I'm talking about more GPs and NHS dentists,

03:02more independent community pharmacists.

03:04In other words, the healthcare that's nearest to people.

03:06And if you really invest in that, not only will people be able to see their GPs more quickly,

03:11but it'll mean that many people won't end up going to hospital.

03:15Some people, when they can't get a GP appointment, go to a hospital.

03:17They put more strain on hospitals.

03:19Some people, because they can't get a GP appointment, get less well, get more ill,

03:23and they end up going to hospital.

03:24So you've really got to invest in that community healthcare

03:28to help our hospitals as well as make sure people can get a GP when they want to.

03:32So that's a big part of our plans.

03:35We also are talking a lot about social care and family carers.

03:40So if the care is there, people can come out of hospital more quickly.

03:46Only one day there are thousands of people in hospital who don't need to be.

03:50It's not good for them. They want to be at home with their families.

03:54It's terrible for them to be in hospital when they don't need to be.

03:56If we can get the care packages by investing in care workers,

04:00supporting families who are doing the caring, we can get people out of hospital.

04:03That's good for them, but also it frees up the beds.

04:05So again, the hospitals can tackle the waiting lists.

04:08So you've got this dual approach in family care, outside hospital, but also GP care,

04:15and it all takes the pressure off hospitals.

04:17It could be dramatically transformative, I think.

04:21We're going to have to invest in capital investments in our hospitals.

04:24Some of them are falling down.

04:26Desperate need for repair and modernisation.

04:29So there will be a bit of capital spend as well, but we've got quite a detailed programme.

04:33And Helen Morgan's played a big part in that, particularly on things like ambulances and rural GPs.

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