SIR Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was once again in Somerset this week as he paid a visit to Yeovil.

Sir Ed took part in wheelbarrow races at Huish Park, home to recently promoted Yeovil Town FC, following a visit to Torbay in Devon on Monday, June 17.

The party leader brought two yellow wheelbarrows to the ground, and navigated an obstacle course on the pitch, similar to the annual wheelbarrow races which take place in Watchet.

The Lib Dem leader's team, which included Yeovil Town Councillors Emma-Jayne Hopkins and Barry Boyton, lost in a race against the team fronted by Yeovil parliamentary candidate Adam Dance.

But when party organisers brought out a blue wheelbarrow, Sir Ed, piloting his yellow one, won by a large margin.

After the races, the party leader stated: “I’m focused on this election.

“Lots of people make idle speculations and hypotheticals, and I don’t, my focus is during this election campaign getting over our ideas on healthcare, on the economy, on sewage, on the environment, on political reform, fixing our broken political system.

“And the more Liberal Democrats can do that, show that we’ve got great local champions like Adam (Dance, the Lib Dems’ candidate) here in Yeovil, the more likely it is that we will be very influential in the next Parliament.

“I believe that we can and need to be. The country’s in a mess.

“The Tories have left the country in a terrible mess and we’re determined to get rid of as many Tory MPs as possible.

When asked about what “influence” would look like, Sir Ed added: “The election hasn’t happened. A lot of people are saying it’s going to be this or going to be that.

“Well, we don’t know and they shouldn’t be taking the British people for granted.

“The polls haven’t even opened yet, a few postal votes are landing on doormats but apart from that no one’s voted, and I want to use the next two weeks or more to get across Liberal Democrat ideas and I think so far that’s been going really well, and it’s very, very encouraging.

“And if you want to know what Liberal Democrat MPs will do in the next Parliament is very easy, read our manifesto.

“We’ve been pushing For A Fair Deal, that’s what it says on the front and we set out in quite a lot of detail fully costed the sorts of things we would do.

“When you fight on a manifesto, it’s not just for the election, it’s for the whole of the Parliament and our focus is on health and care, our focus on things like free school meals, insulating people’s homes, boosting renewable energy to get people’s energy bills down, that’s we’ve made absolutely clear.”