Sir Ed Davey has called for urgent repairs at a Stockport hospital in a "desperate" situation.

During an election campaign visit to Cheadle on June 4, the Lib Dem leader said he previously visited Stepping Hill Hospital based in Stockport and was "staggered" at how bad things were.

He's called for a new plan to fix a backlog of repairs at Stepping Hill and other UK hospitals during the next parliament.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "When I went round it I was staggered, the fact that one whole unit had to be closed because it wasn't safe, and there was no real plan to deal with that.

"There were many other problems I was shown that needed urgently tackling, I couldn't believe that there wasn't a capital programme for that.

"We've been talking about crumbling hospitals, Stepping Hill being one of them, but there are quite a few across the country."

Sir Ed Davey visited Cheadle today as part of the Lib Dem election campaign (Image - Declan Carey)

He said that there needs to be a "proper programme" of work set up to sort out the issues, and that the repairs across the country could cost more than £12 billion in total.

Stepping Hill would have to be done "very early on" in the process, he added.

Tom Morrison is the Lib Dem candidate in Cheadle – he said people in the constituency are "suffering" under the Conservatives.

He added: "We've had a Conservative MP and in that time Stepping Hill Hospital has gradually declined, Outpatients B had to close down, the ICU had to close down because the roof was coming in.

"Has a Conservative MP changed that? Absolutely not. I'm going to be an MP that works for the constituency and works for Cheadle and Cheadle first."

Cheadle is being targeted as a key seat by the Lib Dems.

Ed Davey and Tom Morrison, Lib Dem candidate for Cheadle (Image - Declan Carey)

During Mr Davey's visit to the constituency, he urged Labour supporters in the area to vote Lib Dem in the election to stop the Conservatives.

He said voters are looking for "change" and that he is seeing lots of Conservative voters "switch" to the Lib Dems.

The visit was marked with a game of blue-painted Jenga, with the hope that it represents Lib Dem candidates "knocking down the blue wall" of Conservative seats.

Mr Morrison will need to beat Conservative candidate Mary Robinson, who's been Cheadle's MP since 2015, and Labour candidate Kelly Fowler, when polls open on July 4.

Hazel Grove in Stockport is another Lib Dem target seat which Ed Davey wants to win.

Voters in the area recently told the LDRS that they are struggling with a number of issues, from being unable to afford basic essentials, to a lack of shops.

The visit comes not long after a Conservative pledge to build 100 new GPs, and refurbish a further 150. Read more HERE.

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