Wavertree will host Liverpool’s main election battle, as City Editor David Bartlett reports

LABOUR’S stranglehold on Liverpool’s five Parliamentary seats can only realistically be broken in one place – Wavertree.

It is probably also one of the most diverse seats in Merseyside up for grabs at the general election.

Some of the city’s poorest communities live in the north of the constituency, while the southern end is made up of middle-class suburbs.

The seat, bounded by West Derby Road, Queens Drive, Smithdown Road and Booker Avenue, is the only seat in Liverpool where the Labour party are not practically guaranteed to win.

Despite five of Wavertree’s six wards currently being held by the Liberal Democrats on Liverpool Council, the constituency has been held by outgoing Labour MP Jane Kennedy since its creation in 1997.

But boundary changes after the 2005 general election mean Labour’s notional majority is only around 3,000 now, meaning the Lib Dems only need a swing of around 5% to take the seat.

The Liberal Democrats list Wavertree as their number one target for a gain in the North West.

In fact, they have a history of dominance in the area.

The defunct constituencies of Edge Hill and Mossley Hill were held by Lib-Dem Lord David Alton between 1979 and 1997, and both contained areas now included in Wavertree.

The party is taking the fight for the seat so seriously national leader Nick Clegg made it his first port of call once electioneering started properly last week.

With both Labour and the Lib- Dems desperate to take the seat, campaigning has become ever more bitter.

Observers have described it as more akin to a by-election run-up than a general election.

Labour’s candidate Luciana Berger, director of Labour Friends of Israel, was given a baptism of fire in Liverpool politics.

She was described by outgoing Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle as “an inexperienced student politician” and later made national headlines after admitting to not knowing who Bill Shankly was or how many Mersey Tunnels there were.

It led actor Ricky Tomlinson to declare he was considering throwing his hat in the ring for the Socialist Labour Party.

As yet, there is no official confirmation from the SLP whether he will stand or not.

Lib Dem candidate Colin Eldridge, a city councillor since 2004, has also endured a controversy about how his girlfriend Laura Gilmore got a job at the council. He was cleared by an internal investigation.

Then, last month, Cllr Eldridge was accused by pardoned Liverpool FC fan Michael Shields’ family of using their picture on a leaflet without permission.

The Lib Dems have also been accused of going too far in their attacks on Miss Berger.

Cllr Eldridge, who hails from Berkshire, but has lived in Liverpool for seven years, said: “Labour’s spin is that I have been nasty and horrible, but all we have done is point out she is from London.

“On every leaflet there was more policy than anything else.

“We are confident, but I have never taken anything for granted.