No Lib Dem leaflets binned say Conservatives after apology call

The Conservatives have said that they did not bin any Liberal Democrats leaflets in Ceredigion after the party called on them to apologise for a tweet mentioning “binned Lib Dem leaflets”.

The now-deleted tweet from the Ceredigion Conservatives’ official Twitter account featured a photo of the Deputy Chairman of the local Conservative Association, Ewan Lawry, and others campaigning in Llanbadarn Fawr.

It said “Good to see students from @abercons helping us out today. Not to mention a few binned Lib Dem leaflets” and included a laughing emoji.

However, the Conservatives later clarified that they had seen some Lib Dem leaflets in people’s recycling, and had not binned the leaflets themselves, and made a ” lighthearted observation which was misconstrued”.

Michael Woods, Chair of the Ceredigion Liberal Democrats, had earlier said: “In what has been a largely good-natured campaign so far, it’s hugely disappointing to see the local Conservatives appear to be not only stooping to dirty tactics, but publicly gloating about it too.

“Cadan ap Tomos and the local Lib Dems have proudly committed to running a positive campaign, that focuses on building a brighter future for our county. Meanwhile, the Conservatives seem to want to get ahead by playing tricks.

“[Conservative candidate] Amanda Jenner must personally apologise for the conduct of those campaigning in her name, and commit to reviewing her internal practices to root out this unacceptable behaviour. Ceredigion deserves better than this.”

Amanda Jenner said that she was not there with the team but had spoken to those who were.

“They have said that absolutely no other party’s leaflets were binned or interfered with by them,” she said.

“Rather, they have explained to me that they saw some Lib Dem leaflets in people’s recycling and then one activist (who helps with our social media) attempted to make a lighthearted observation of this which has been misconstrued.”

She added that they had contacted the Liberal Democrats to clarify.

Candidates

The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives in Ceredigion are campaigning to unseat Plaid Cymru incumbent Elin Jones, who won the election in 2016 with 12,014 to the Lib Dems’ 9,606 and the Conservatives’ 2,075.

At the 2019 General Election, the Conservatives came second with 8,879, while the Lib Dems picked up 6,975. Plaid Cymru’s Ben Lake, the incumbent MP, won 15,208 votes.

The full list of candidates in Ceredigion are:

Amanda Jenner – Conservatives

Cadan ap Tomos – Liberal Democrats

Dylan Lewis-Rowlands – Labour

Elin Jones – Plaid Cymru

Gethin James – Reform UK

Harry Hayfield – Green