THE Liberal Democrats have set their sights on taking Monmouth from the Conservatives following their by-election win in North Shropshire.

The result of the election saw the Liberal Democrats overtake Labour from third place to take the Westminster seat by almost 6,000 votes.

The seat previously had a Tory majority of 23,000.

The victory, in a heavy leave-voting seat that was held by the Conservatives for almost 200 years, is likely to be seen as a significant blow to prime minister Boris Johnson.

The by-election marks the second victory for the Liberal Democrats in less than a year after they secured another historic result in Chesham and Amersham where they achieved a 25 percent swing from the Conservatives to take the seat with a 8,028 majority.

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Lib Dem leader in Wales, Jane Dodds MS said: “The scale of the victory last night, overturning a seat just on the Welsh border that had been solidly Conservative for almost 200 years, shows the Liberal Democrats are back in business and prepared to take on this chaotic Conservative Government.

“This result only serves to demonstrate that people are absolutely fed up of this incompetent Conservative Government that continuously prioritizes meaningless slogans over tangible actions to improve people’s lives.

“North Shropshire, like many in Monmouthshire, was fed up of being taken advantage of and forgotten about by the Conservatives.

"Rural communities have gained little from years of Conservative MPs who don’t deliver results for their communities. Unlike areas of South East England, the Conservative Government has shown little interest in levelling up rural communities."

Monmouth has been held by the Conservatives since 2005, with David Davies the MP for the area.

He said: “In a democracy competition is always welcome.

"This Government have delivered Brexit, delivered a world beating vaccine programme and in spite of facing the worst economic downturn for centuries we see job vacancies and in increase in salaries for the lowest paid.

"I shall be very happy to defend this record when the time comes."

The next UK General Election is due to be held in May 2024, but could be called earlier.