The Liberal Democrats, who came second in the constituency in 2019, are hoping to defeat the Conservatives in the seat at the general election and elect the first non-Tory MP for the area since 1906.
Campaigners and supporters packed out Haywards Heath Town Hall for the launch event, which saw the former party leader and Liberal Democrat candidate for Mid Sussex Alison Bennett take questions from the audience.
Ms Bennett said: “We’ve got the momentum, we’re the challengers to the Conservatives in Mid Sussex.
“The country feels really broken and there’s something very corrosive happening at the moment, whereby a lot of people don’t have confidence in our public services anymore.
“They don’t know whether when they need to call an ambulance in an emergency it’s going to come or not – and that’s a terrible place for us to be in.”
She also said that the next election presented a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to elect a Liberal Democrat MP in the constituency.
Speaking to Lib Dem supporters at the launch event, Sir Vince mused on the likelihood of potential outcomes from the next election, putting the chance of a minority Labour government or one with a small majority at over 50 per cent.
He said: “That’s the context in which we then become very important and influential.”
Sir Vince also said that the party should be aiming to return to its place as the “third party” in British politics and aim to win more than 30 seats at the election.
Speaking to The Argus, Sir Vince said: “In this area, they used to have Nicholas Soames [as an MP], who was a distinguished Tory from Churchill’s family – and [the Conservatives] threw him out.
“If you’re a moderate Tory in this area, what would you think of a party that did that?
“The way of expressing that feeling is supporting us.”
According to election forecaster Electoral Calculus, the Conservatives are the favourites to hold the constituency at the general election, with the Liberal Democrats anticipated to be a close second and Labour third.
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