The Liberal Democrats have pulled off some stunning victories in parliamentary by-elections over the years. They provide an excellent opportunity for people to send a powerful message to the government.

During the last Tory government, massive swings to the Lib Dems in by-elections were credited with persuading them to abandon to hated Poll Tax, and ultimately demonstrated how far Margaret Thatcher had lost the confidence of the people. This summer, voters in Ealing Southall and Tony Blair’s own constituency of Sedgefield will have the chance to send their message to Gordon Brown.

I’m really pleased that our candidate in Ealing Southall, Nigel Bakhai, is campaigning on the issues of hospital deficits, safer streets, and the waste of lives and money that was the disasterous decision to go to war in Iraq. If Gordon Brown really wants to “let the work of change begin”, he could start by helping NHS Trusts burdened by debt, funding more police officers instead of wasting money on the ID card scheme, and setting out a plan for bringing our troops home from Iraq. Another Lib Dem victory on July 19th in Ealing will tell him exactly that.

Ealing Southall really isn’t that far away for us here in Chippenham. I went along to help the campaign all this weekend, and I’m recommending it to all our local campaigners too, if you possibly can. There’s always a great team spirit at a by-election headquarters, and it’s a great way to learn the very best practice from our party’s leading campaigners.

Don’t leave it for someone else – it will all be over in less than three weeks – so your help is needed now.