Labour in Herefordshire believes it can replicate locally the big swings against the Conservatives which gave the party two shock byelection victories this week.

Swings of over 20 per cent saw Labour take the previously safe Tory seats of Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire.

With a General Election likely within a year, a similar swing in Hereford and South Herefordshire would put Labour in touching distance of Conservative transport minister Jesse Norman MP.

Joe Emmett, Labour’s prospective candidate for the seat, said: “What’s true of Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire is true also of Hereford and South Herefordshire, where only Labour can win.”

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Having himself knocked on doors during the Tamworth campaign, “there were Tory voters who were heading to vote Labour or already had done in their postal votes”, he said.

“Change won’t come about unless we fight for it and offer a real alternative, which Labour now does. That change can begin in our very own by-election in Golden Valley South next Thursday.”

Here, Labour will compete with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and two independents for the ward previously held by the late councillor Peter Jinman for the Independents for Herefordshire.

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For the Greens, who have already claimed they are the best-placed party to defeat Sir Bill Wiggin in North Herefordshire, their parliamentary candidate and leader in the county Ellie Chowns pointed to a less-widely reported result yesterday in Worcester, where the Greens claimed a further seat on each of the county and city councils at the expense of the Conservatives.

Meanwhile in North Herefordshire, “we’ve spoken to thousands of voters on the doorstep, and 36 per cent of them have told us they plan to vote Green at the next General Election, putting us a close second to the Conservatives as things stand,” she said.

Herefordshire’s Liberal Democrats and Conservatives were also approached for comment.