How the Lib Dems snatched two Greater Manchester seats at the general election

Cheers rang around Stockport town hall last week as the Lib Dems secured victory in the marginal seats of Cheadle and Hazel Grove.

Stockport councillors Lisa Smart and Tom Morrison were elected to Parliament, with Cheadle's former Tory MP Mary Robinson losing her seat, and Hazel Grove Conservative candidate Paul Athans winning fewer votes than Labour.

It was part of a disastrous national picture for the Tories who were booted from government and made to suffer in their traditional rural heartlands - with the Lib Dems storming to power in many of these seats.

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As Greater Manchester returned a total of 25 Labour MPs, the two Stockport constituencies of Cheadle and Hazel Grove became a Lib Dem enclave surrounded by a sea of red on the region's political map.

But weeks before polls opened on July 4, it looked as though Conservative voters in both areas had already given up.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey made visits to the constituencies in the run up to election day, calling them "critical" targets for the party.

And a number of Lib Dem activists, from local councillors to party supporters, were visibly present on the doorstep around the Stockport seats, with some residents getting multiple knocks on the door in the run up to the general election.

A Lib Dem insider who was active on the campaign trail in Stockport said: "The Conservatives were extremely visible early in the campaign but that did fade, which probably had more to do with how badly their national campaign went.

"Residents understand that Labour can’t win in Hazel Grove and Cheadle - and frankly don’t want them to either, we have a long liberal tradition in both seats.

"The Conservatives didn’t