Lib Dems eyeing full control of borough council
BBCLiberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey said his party was aiming to regain outright control of a Greater Manchester council for the first time in 15 years.
Ahead of the local elections across much of England on 7 May, Davey spoke during a visit to Stockport, where his party runs the council as part of a minority administration.
Only a couple of wards need to be secured by the Lib Dems for them to take overall control of the local authority.
Davey said that while Stockport was his main target, he thought the Lib Dems could make gains "in places like Preston and Manchester and Trafford".
Stockport is the only local authority in Greater Manchester where the Lib Dems have any control, with pockets of support in five other councils elsewhere in the city region.
If the Lib Dems take two more seats in Stockport, it will be the first time they will have had a majority on any of Greater Manchester's 10 councils since 2011.
Davey told the BBC that voters had been giving his party a "great reception on the doorstep", and said cost-of-living concerns were the major issue in Stockport and across the wider north-west of England region.
He said petrol and diesel prices had been made "far worse by Trump's idiotic war in Iran" and highlighted his party's suggestion of cutting fuel duty by 10p per litre and capping bus fares at £1.
Davey was in Bredbury earlier with Hazel Grove MP Lisa Smart at the base of children's school uniform supplier the Parently Group.
During their visit, Davey tried his hand at sewing school uniforms and helped to unload a shipment of blazers.
Davey said the Lib Dems could take voters from all the other main parties.
He said he thought people were "particularly upset with Labour", who he said had "promised so much but been so disappointing" on issues like the NHS and dealing with sewage.
After the Lib Dems could only come fifth in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year, Davey was asked how he could compete now that there is much attention on both the Green Party and Reform UK.
He said people wanted policies that tackle the cost of living, not "divisive Trump-style politics of Nigel Farage", and took aim at the Green Party for its record on recycling in the councils it controls.
Davey also pointed to Tom Morrison and Lisa Smart respectively winning Cheadle and Hazel Grove in the 2024 general election.
Full elections are taking place across the whole of Greater Manchester on Thursday 7 May, with voters heading to the polls in Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.
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