ON HER way to spending a family holiday in North Cornwall, Jo Swinson, the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, spent a while last Saturday afternoon at Launceston’s White Horse Inn.

There she received a warm welcome from local party workers and from North Cornwall Liberal Democratic candidate, Danny Chambers.

The visit could have been seen as the start of an election campaign.

Jo said: “I do think we are likely to be heading towards a general election and the Liberal Democrats are up for that fight because there’s so much at stake for our country.

“Here in Cornwall people have been let down by the Conservative government whether that’s funding for schools and health services or how they have not managed to get the broadband that people ought to be able to rely on.”

She added: “Our Liberal Democrat champions, people like Danny Chambers, are going to be fighting here in North Cornwall, and across the county.”

Mr Chambers was confident the party could win back the North Cornwall seat, adding: “We’ve got a very good chance of winning here. This has been Liberal Democrat between 1992 and 2015.”

He told supporters that with child poverty at 40%, many people without a living wage in Bodmin and Camelford and Cornish schoolchildren each receiving £209 per annum less than the national average, the country was about to face the most important general election in years.

He also paid tribute to Tony Edwards of Bude who passed away on August 10. He was a life-long worker for the party who had delivered leaflets at the 1945 general election.

Speaking passionately to party members, Jo said the party was on the rise.

“We deserve something better,” she said “And we will lead the fight to stop no-deal.

“With hundreds of seats capable of being won, the party is now on election footing. What is at stake was the kind of society we lived in. At a time when hate crime was driving people away because they did not feel welcome, we say every individual matters. We resonate with people’s values and will fight for them and offer an alternative to the country which sorely needs it. That is why we are on the up.”

She then answered questions over a wide range of topics, from climate change and school funding to social care and the voting system.

When asked what issue she cared most about she replied ‘climate change’.

“We must act now”, she said. “Otherwise we will wake up in the night and find it is too late.”

She ended by saying she loved Britain more by being in Europe.

“Loving your country, being patriotic is no contradiction to being in the EU”.

Before Jo departed to begin her holiday everyone gathered in the yard outside the White Horse Inn for photographs.