Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has highlighted Hitchin in a keynote speech at his party's conference this week.

In place of the usual grand gathering, as the Lib Dems kick-off the conference season for the three main political parties, the speech was given online, with Davey making an open appeal to traditional Tory voters who might dislike the prime minister and his populist ways.

Towards the end of the speech Davey, 55, made specific reference to our town - in a move widely seen as intended to be a rallying cry in a bid to attract floating voters, as much as a nod to the party faithful.

"Standing between the British people and our fair deal is a big Blue Wall," he said.

"In Chesham and Amersham, we knocked out one blue brick. Now it's up to us to tear it down.

"From Cheadle to Cheltenham, from Winchester to Wokingham, from Stockport to Sutton, from Hitchin to Harrogate, from Westminster to Wimbledon and from Eastbourne to Esher and Walton, let us bring the Blue Wall down.

"Let us rebuild our country. Let us fight for a fair deal. We can do it. And we will."

Hitchin and Harpenden

Bim Afolami MP is the present parliamentarian in the seat of Hitchin and Harpenden with a majority of 6,895 at the last General Election in 2019.

The total is down from the majority of 12,031 that Mr Afolami gained when he first fought the seat in 2015, after taking over the Conservative mantle from previous long-standing incumbent Peter Lilley.

While the next general election is not until 2024, this year has seen possible plans mooted to break up the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency.

Major changes to parliamentary constituencies up and down the country, including Hitchin, were proposed earlier this year - with potentially significant implications for MPs everywhere, including our town's parliamentarian Mr Afolami.

In the plans, the changes appear to mean that Hitchin will become a standalone constituency, while Harpenden will be renamed Harpenden and Berkhampsted.

It is unsure which possible seat Mr Afolami will fight.

However, Hitchin Lib Dem candidate Sam Collins who battled against the Tory last time out, achieving a 15 per cent swing towards the Lib Dems is already gearing up for the fight.

Mr Collins is also Executive Member for Enterprise, the Arts and Transport on North Herts District Council.

Reacting to Mr Davey's speech and mention of Hitchin, Mr Collins told Nub News: "It is fantastic to see Hitchin recognised as a seat which could be won by the Lib Dems at the next General Election.

"When I first joined the Lib Dems in 2016 nobody really believed that Hitchin and Harpenden could ever be a winnable seat, indeed the last Liberal MP here was Julius Bertram who left office in 1910, and the last non Conservative MP was Shirley Williams who left office in 1974.

"But the 2019 General Election showed that this is no longer a true blue Conservative seat. I started working to prove that we could win here and slowly more and more people started to understand that we could, in 2019 we very nearly did win here. Had there been a fairer voting system in place then we undoubtedly would have won in 2019.

"It is my intention to stand at the next General Election as the Liberal Democrats candidate, but whether I do so or not is up to Lib Dem members locally, who decide who the candidate will be.

"I have put my name forward and I hope that the membership want to join me in finishing what we started together. I hope I get selected and then elected, because I believe that our area deserves a MP who cares about the community that they live in, and I think (and hope) I can be that person."

Mr Collins added that he believes the Conservative party under PM Boris Johnson has moved to the far right and put 'a huge amount of incompetent people into key roles in Government.'

He explained to Nub News: "Now we have food shortages, an inadequate rail service, the NHS is at risk of privatisation and is struggling badly, our schools are terribly under funded and local authorities are too, people here have had enough and the Lib Dems are the obvious and logical alternative."

Read Hitchin Nub News for all the latest developments on any possible changes to the Hitchin and Harpenden parliamentary seat.