Somerton & Frome by-election winner sworn in as MP and demands meeting with Health Secretary
Embargoed until 00.01 Monday 4 September
The winner of the Somerton and Frome by-election, Sarah Dyke, will today (Monday 4 September) arrive in Westminster to be sworn in as an MP.
The Liberal Democrats won the Somerton and Frome by-election with a stunning 28% swing. Sarah Dyke now has a majority of over 10,000, building on the previous by-election victory in the West Country when Richard Foord gained Tiverton and Honiton for the Liberal Democrats.
On her first day in Parliament, Sarah Dyke will demand a meeting with the Health Secretary amid a crisis in GP appointment shortgages and an ambulance waiting times crisis.
The new MP has already held a town and village tour of the constituency over the summer and held virtual surgeries since winning the by-election. It follows an absent Conservative MP who refused to meet with constituents to visit Westminster.
Liberal Democrat MP for Somerton and Frome, Sarah Dyke MP, said:
“I will be a member of Parliament for everyone in Somerton and Frome, regardless of how you voted in the election, my door will always be open to all.
“I heard loud and clear from communities across the constituency that people felt badly let down by an absent MP and out of touch Conservative party taking them for granted.
“I promise to be a different kind of local politician, who will fight for better NHS services, a fair deal for our farmers and more help with the cost of living crisis.
“It is time the Government understood the dire situation of rural health services in this country. Towns and villages are left with GP surgeries unable to offer appointments and ambulance waiting times reaching dangerous levels. The Health Secretary needs to hear for himself how overstretched and under resourced health services in Somerset have become.”
Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey MP said:
“The Somerton and Frome by-election should have acted as a wake up call for Rishi Sunak and his out-of-touch Conservative party. Instead we are seeing the same old endless Conservative chaos and communities being taken for granted.
“Across the country the Conservatives have let local NHS services become overstretched, rivers polluted with sewage, and too many families left with eye-watering bills to pay.
“Sarah has hit the ground running and already achieved far more than the previous absent Conservative MP. On every visit to Somerton and Frome I heard real anger at how communities had been let down and taken for granted. With Sarah as their hardworking local MP, that is going to change.”
ENDS
