Local Lib Dem candidates for the General Election

Stafford and Stone Liberal Democrats are pleased to announce that Christine Tinker and Martin Lewis will be our candidates for the 2017 General Election.

We believe this is your chance to change the direction of our country. Many people who voted Leave in last year's referendum probably did not want a hard Brexit at any cost. We will be campaigning and making the case that for everyone who wants to avoid a disastrous hard Brexit, wants to keep Britain in the single market, and who wants an effective opposition, the only party to vote for is the Liberal Democrats.

Christine Tinker (Stafford constituency): Christine is an experienced campaigner and has been involved in canvassing and campaign planning since she first joined the party. After service in the Army and many years working for voluntary organisations, Christine stood as a Lib Dem candidate in Stone in 2010 and then in Shrewsbury in 2015.

Originally from Liverpool, her home is currently in Shropshire where she lives with her black lab Juno. She was married to a naval officer but was widowed during the Falklands War.

Christine believes passionately in people having the opportunity to do as well as they can do, regardless of their background. She loves going out and knocking on doors and talking to people to find out what matters to them. Christine says, "I'm looking forward to standing for the Lib Dems in Stafford to give people the chance to vote for an open, tolerant and united Britain, in total contrast to a hard Brexit government."

Martin Lewis (Stone constituency): The Lib Dem candidate in Stone is Martin Lewis. He has lived in Staffordshire most of his life and went to school in Stafford. Martin was a civil servant for 37 years before retiring a few years ago. He was the candidate in Stone at the 2015 general election too.

He says, "The general election has been called for opportunistic, party political reasons. Mrs May says the country is coming together about Brexit, but Parliament, she says, is divided and is creating difficulties for her negotiations with the EU, so she wants a new mandate.

"Mrs May may not like challenge but that is Parliament's role. What she really wants is a bigger majority so that she need pay less attention to her more difficult back-benchers. So the election will mainly be about Brexit, and the polls put the Tories well in the lead. Lib Dems will campaign to avoid a hard Brexit, to stay in the single market and for the people to have their say on the outcome of Brexit negotiations.

"A good outcome of the general election would be a strengthened Lib Dem opposition in Parliament to hold the Government properly to account - in contrast to Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party which is the most ineffective opposition in living memory. A vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for an open, tolerant and united Britain."