Original sentence: The southern and eastern suburbs have become somewhat of a bellwether area and may go either way depending on how the national stage unfolds.The western suburbs and the rural areas have increasingly become more conservative, and the Liberals lost two seats and held on to two others less comfortably in the last election and could lose them
Edited sentence: The southern and eastern suburbs have become a bellwether area and may go either way depending on how the national stage unfolds.The western suburbs and the rural areas have increasingly become more conservative, and the Liberals lost two seats and barely held on to two others in the last election and may lose them