Baroness Williams calls for Labour support to oust Michael Howard's Tory in South Suffolk

11.36.30am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 21st Apr 2005

Baroness Shirley Williams with Kathy Pollard, Tony Platt and local residents of Cross St

Baroness Williams of Crosby visited South Suffolk yesterday with Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate, Kathy Pollard. They spoke to Cross Street residents in Sudbury about traffic congestion problems and lack of progress with the Sudbury Western Bypass. Liberal Democrats in Sudbury have been working with local residents to get improvements and have been lobbying for the bypass for many years. When she was Executive Member for Transport on Suffolk County Council, Kathy Pollard got the bypass back on the County's list of road schemes, but the government has shelved it.

Tony Platt, County Candidate for Sudbury North and South said, "The Liberal Democrats will do everything possible to press for measures to relieve traffic congestion in Sudbury. We are particularly concerned for Cross St residents who have had a number of near misses from traffic mounting the pavement."

Baroness Williams, a former Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords said, "Kathy Pollard will be an outstanding MP for this area. She has a huge reputation amongst local people for making life better for everyone. Kathy really understands the problems faced by her constituency, through extensive experience as an Executive Member of Suffolk County Council and a councillor for the people of South Suffolk for 18 years.

"All our polling evidence shows that in seats like South Suffolk we are picking up a massive amount of support from former Labour voters. It is already clear that Labour is out of the race in South Suffolk. The Iraq war, and general disillusionment with Labour's shift to the right, means that we are now poised to make a major gain. I would strongly urge former Labour voters and those who are undecided to vote for Kathy Pollard if they want to see change for the better in South Suffolk."

Kathy Pollard added, "The introduction of tuition fees and an obsession with targets and bureaucracy has left many professionals overworked and disillusioned. Many former Conservative voters dislike Michael Howard. They remember that he introduced both the Poll Tax and the Council Tax, and proposes no fair alternative. While he was Home Secretary, Suffolk lost 100 police officers, so Conservative claims that they will put extra police on the streets, whilst cutting taxes, does not ring true with voters here. We have found that we are getting support from disillusioned Conservative and Labour voters."

The Liberal Democrats are the only party making consistent gains in the polls so far. The Tories are not only failing to break through - they find themselves at the same levels or worse than they were under the leadership of William Hague. Evidence from Lib Dem canvass returns in South Suffolk shows a massive collapse in the Labour vote. People have lost trust in Tony Blair over the Iraq war and many traditional Labour supporters feel the party has moved too far to the right. The Liberal Democrats are around 10 points ahead in the opinion polls than at this time in the 2001 campaign and are gaining momentum.