Sir Ed Davey appeals to Labour backers to switch to Liberal Democrats to 'knock out' Tories from Wimbledon

Sir Ed Davey appealed to traditional Labour voters to switch to the Liberal Democrats to “knock out” the Tories in Wimbledon.

He was due to head to the three-way marginal constituency in south west London on Friday afternoon, where tactical voting could be key.

“The future of the country is hanging in the balance and in Wimbledon and across South West London, traditional Labour supporters can deliver the knock out blow to the Conservatives by voting for the Liberal Democrats,” he urged.

Centrist Tory MP Stephen Hammond, who won the Wimbledon seat in 2019 with a majority of just 628, has stepped down.

It has previously been held by Labour, but the party was around 7,000 votes behind the Lib-Dems five years ago.

Rishi Sunak visited Wimbledon in recent days in a sign that the Tories believe they may be able to hold onto the seat.

Sir Ed has sought to make waves during the election campaign, to cut through to voters, with a series of stunts including falling off a paddleboard on Lake Windermere in the Lake District.

He has also gone down a waterslide and free wheeled down the street on a bike.

The Lib-Dems can struggle to get media time and Sir Ed has defended the stunts.

The Lib-Dems are also targeting Carshalton and Wallington, and Sutton and Cheam, in south west London, as well as a number of seats in the capital’s commuter belt including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Godalming and Ash constituency.

Meanwhile, Sir Ed took part in a baking lesson with students from High Beeches Primary School, Harpenden, while on a general election visit to Hertfordshire on Friday.

The Liberal Democrats want to provide free school meals to all primary school children, in a manifesto pledge they said would be funded by a tax on share buybacks.

The party said it would start by immediately extending the scheme to provide school meals to all 900,000 children living in poverty who currently miss out.

The Lib-Dems, though did not put a timescale on the overall plan, instead saying that all primarily school children would be able to get free school meals once public finances stabilise.

Children in reception, year 1 and year 2 can all already get free school meals. But from year 3 and above, eligibility depends on family income.

The party said its pledge would be funded by a four per cent levy on the share buybacks of FTSE 100 listed corporations, similar to the excise tax on buybacks implemented by President Joe Biden in the US.

This could raise around £1.4bn a year, according to the Liberal Democrats.

A share buyback is when a company buys back its own shares from the market. This reduces the number of shares on the market and increases the value of remaining shares.

The Lib Dems said that these transactions are mainly carried out by oil and gas giants, banks and large corporations that own a number of food and consumer goods brands.