Mark Garnier - no Tory seat is safe at General Election
A West Midlands parliamentary candidate has hit back over claims he has neglected his constituency in the belief his seat is safe, writes Luke Bartlett.
Mark Garnier, the Tory candidate in Wyre Forest, has come under fire for campaigning in Selly Oak and Walsall North with fellow Conservatives Sophie Shrubsole and Eddie Hughes.
But he has insisted that he was not taking his constituents for granted despite his majority of 12,871 from 2015.
Mr Garnier, who has held the seat since 2010, said: “It was always going to be the case that if I go and do some campaigning outside [Wyre Forest], somebody will turn around and say you’re complacent about your own seat.
"The answer to that is absolutely not.
“I can absolutely assure you that nobody is taking the outcome in any constituency, not just the Wyre Forest, for granted.
“It’s inevitably the case that someone from Labour will try and portray this as being complacent, it absolutely isn’t.”
Meanwhile Mr Garnier also criticised Jeremy Corbyn over the contents of Labour's manifesto, the final version of which is due to be released today.
He said: “The way you vote on the June 8 will determine if you have a slightly right of centre party like the Conservative Party running the country or Jeremy Corbyn running the country.
“When looking through his draft manifesto...it is racking up a staggering amount of debt."
Mr Garnier said he was looking to target past and present opposition party voters in Wyre Forest with a strong Conservative message.
He highlighted the potential to appeal to UKIP voters, as well as Independent Community and Health Concern, whose candidate Richard Taylor received 7,221 votes at the last election.
Mr Taylor has opted not to stand this time around.
Mr Garnier said: “There are areas where we didn’t campaign very hard [in the county elections] because the we didn’t think we were going to win the county seats, but clearly there are lots and lots of Conservative voters in those areas.
“We’ve seen the opinion polls, the UKIP vote is going down, just as a sort of national thing.
“Obviously we’re quite keen to demonstrate to those UKIP voters that we have a message for them about Brexit.
“Richard Taylor’s voters will be looking for a home and I think it’s important that we show that we can represent their interests as well.”
