Jo Swinson attends Lib Dem Election Summit

8.21.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 13th Sep 2004

Jo Swinson and the Lib Dems are fighting hard to win East Dunbartonshire at the General Election

Last weekend (10th - 12th Sept) local Lib Dem prospective candidate Jo Swinson joined MPs and key seat candidates from across the UK at a General Election Summit hosted by Charles Kennedy MP in Bedfordshire. The Election Summit brought together MPs and future MPs to discuss the Lib Dem pre-manifesto, launched this week, and to plan the General Election campaign.

East Dunbartonshire was one of 5 key areas from Scotland represented at the summit, and has not previously been invited to send a representative to similar events, which are reserved for people likely to form the next Lib Dem Parliamentary Party in Westminster. Jo had the opportunity to talk to Charles Kennedy informally, sitting next to him at the Summit Dinner where he was the keynote speaker.

Jo Swinson said, "I was delighted to be invited to the Election Summit, as it is a clear sign of how seriously the Lib Dems are taking the campaign to win East Dunbartonshire at the General Election. Of course it was an added bonus to be sitting next to Charles during the dinner, and I told him he'd be very welcome to come and visit us in East Dunbartonshire."

Jo continued, "It's clear the new boundaries make East Dunbartonshire a winnable seat for the Liberal Democrats. Following recent spectacular by-election wins from Labour, the Lib Dems are targeting Labour seats like East Dunbartonshire, where there are notionally just 2601 votes between Labour and the Lib Dems."