The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, has predicted that his party's candidate for the Wellington area, Gideon Amos, will defeat the Conservative incumbent Rebecca Pow at the next general election.

The forthcoming election, which must be held no later than January 28, 2024, will see the country go to the polls to elect a new parliament.

Attending the inaugural meeting of the party's South West Business Network, Mr Davey predicted the Lib Dems would win the area's parliamentary seat for the first time since 2005.

Speaking at the Brewhouse theatre in Taunton Sir Ed said: "We showed that with our amazing Parliamentary by-election in Tiverton, Honiton and East Devon when Richard Foord beat the Conservatives.

“We showed that across the whole of Somerset with an amazing victory in the local elections in 2022 and I think, at the General Election, we can do really well. We’ve got some great candidates and, here in Taunton, we’ve got the amazing Gideon Amos and I think he’s going to be the next MP for the new constituency of Taunton and Wellington”.

The bold prediction comes after the Liberal Democrats won local government elections across Somerset last year. Sir Ed said: "Where we are strong – particularly in local Government – people realise that we are the party to vote for.”