Liberal Democrats select candidate for Derby North

7.52.59pm GMT Sun 14th Jan 2007

Only Lib Dem Councillor Lucy Care or Tony Blair's New Labour MP can win in Derby North

The Liberal Democrats have selected local councillor, Lucy Care to be their Parliamentary Spokesperson for the new Derby North constituency.

At the selection meeting on Saturday, party members overwhelmingly chose Lucy Care to be their prospective candidate for the next General Election, from a shortlist of three.

Lucy Care said "I am delighted by this vote of confidence in me by my party colleagues. We have shown again and again that the Lib Dems can win locally, and next time it is likely that voters in Derby will elect a Lib Dem MP. I have lived here most of my life; my family use local health services and my school-aged children attended local schools. I therefore know how important it is to have good local services.

"I have worked hard for local people and the city in my years as a councillor, but I know that we need changes nationally to get the changes people want in Derby. For example, we need to give our doctors and nurses more freedom to treat patients according to their professional judgement, instead of being driven by government targets. Pupils need freeing from being taught just to pass tests at school, and local people should be given more power over planning decisions.

"I will be promoting the Lib Dems' green tax plans to cut Income Tax and switch taxes onto pollution. This will save the average family in Derby £1000 a year and mean real action is taken to protect the environment for future generations. I will be fighting, too, for fair funding for Derbyshire Police; we need more bobbies on the beat.

"People are fed up with the Labour government's performance on issues like tuition fees, the Iraq War and Post Office closures. Locally they are fed up with a Labour/Conservative alliance that is cutting service after service but is still planning big Council Tax rises.

"The Liberal Democrats offer local people a credible alternative. The Lib Dems finished first, ahead of Labour, in the new Derby North constituency in last year's local elections. The Conservatives were a poor third and don't have a single councillor in the new Derby North.

"The contest in the new Derby North constituency will be a close race between the Lib Dems and Labour."