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'I'm champing at the bit to get started' - St Albans MP Daisy Cooper elected as new Lib Dem deputy leader
Published: 11:53 AM September 15, 2020 Updated: 6:49 PM December 14, 2020
New Liberal Democrats deputy leader Daisy Cooper. - Credit: HM Government
Days after her appointment as the Liberal Democrats' new deputy leader, St Albans MP Daisy Cooper is already looking at future victories.
She wants to use her position to replicate the Liberal Democrats' historic win in the St Albans constituency at the last General Election in which she overturned an 11 per cent Tory lead to win by 6,000 votes.
"I'm proud to have been elected as deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and I'm champing at the bit to get started.
"Back in December Liberal Democrats won St Albans for the first time in our history, but it didn't happen overnight. We started early and it took us three and half years to win the seat by getting out there and talking about our values, about being an open, internationalist party which believes in environmentalism and civil liberties, as well as working alongside the community to improve people's lives and livelihoods. We now have three and a half years until the next election, so if we start now, we've got a great chance of winning a good number of seats.
"Using my experience of winning St Albans, we can start to become a lightning rod for those who share our values, to build a campaigning machine and to stop Johnson's Tories."
Daisy believes her path to victory can be replicated to threaten sitting Tory MPs in up to 82 constituencies where her party is running second.
"We'll be setting out to win over voters who share our values, and that will include the many 'soft conservative' voters who've found the current government at odds with their values of competent government, respect for the law, international alliances, civil liberties and protection of the environment, and who we know are repulsed by the thuggish values of the Tories under Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings."
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As well as her new role as deputy leader, Sir Ed Davey recently appointed Daisy as Lib Dem spokesperson on education.
"The idea that education is a route to opportunity remains a core part of Liberal Democrat values today," she said.
"It's shocking that in the 21st century we have children going to school with hungry tummies, so I'll be putting child poverty and free school meals at the front of the agenda. I'll also be pushing for better support for children with special educational needs, who've been the victims of the horrendous slashing of school budgets under the Tory Government."
Daisy said her constituency work as the MP for St Albans will benefit from her higher profile in parliament and on the national stage.
"I've helped thousands of constituents and talked with hundreds of local organisations since being elected, but there is a lot more to be done, especially as we all work together to adjust to life with and after Covid-19.
"I intend to use the bigger national platform I've been granted to campaign in parliament on the issues facing St Albans residents and to continue striving to be the dedicated constituency MP that St Albans deserves."
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