The Liberal Democrats came second in Epsom and Ewell in the last general elections, but will Jonathan Lees be able to climb even further this time? THAIS PORTILHO-SHRIMPTON reports...

If there were ever any doubts Jonathan Lees was a local man who knows his constituents very well, they were wiped out after I had the chance to walk the streets of West Ewell with the Lib Dem canvassing team.

Every other resident he approached knew him or had dealt with him before - not surprisingly, as he is a councillor in Epsom and Ewell - and he knew most of them by name, without having to check his list of registered voters.

He says: “I’m the only candidate who is actually local. My family has lived here for a long time and now my children are growing up here too. That as opposed to the two other main parties’ candidates. The Labour candidate doesn’t even live around here, he lives in Lambeth.”

As we walk around in the Tuesday evening, Mr Lees tells me about juggling his campaign with family life and day job.

He also takes the opportunity to defend his party’s policies on immigration. He says: “I think our policy on immigration is actually quite good. I think is best to have a regional cap as opposed to a national cap.”

Mr Lees, alongside councillor Anna Jones, knocks on several doors and gets a good response from voters, which Coun Jones puts down to Nick Clegg’s performance on the first leaders’ debate.

As the canvassing draws near to its end, Mr Lees tells me about his concern with the criminalisation of young people.

He says: “The main thing is too much money goes into locking up young people and not enough into actually supporting them and stopping them from committing crimes in the first place.”