For someone who might be about to lose her seat, Jo Swinson seems very perky as she walks the streets of Bishopbriggs in her constituency. The Lib Dem, who is standing for re-election in East Dunbartonshire in Scotland, is busy trying to persuade people who have received their postal votes this week to back her.
The weather is sunny and warm and the Business and Equalities Minister cheerful, but the outlook isn’t quite so good when you take a glance at the numbers. A poll by Lord Ashcroft last week put the SNP on 40 per cent, with Swinson trailing behind on 29 per cent. That’s a 19.5 per cent swing to the SNP in the seat which Swinson first won in 2005 with a 4,061 majority, which then reduced to 2,184 in 2010.
The Lib Dems have conducted their own seat polling which – unlike Ashcroft’s – mentions the candidate’s name.
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