Daniel Garside to fight for Lib Dems in surprise Rothwell by-election

10.15.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 3rd Mar 2008

Market Hill resident Daniel Garside has been selected to contest the Rothwell Trinity by-election for the Liberal Democrats

Local businessman Daniel Garside has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate in a surprise by-election to be held on 27th March, when voters in Trinity Ward in Rothwell will go to the polls to fill a seat left vacant by the unexpected resignation of a Conservative town councillor.

The news comes less than a week after Conservatives on Kettering Borough Council approved a below-inflation 0.1% increase in grants to town and parish councils, in a move Liberal Democrat campaigners warned could mean cuts in local services.

Speaking after his selection, Market Hill resident and Liberal Democrat candidate Daniel Garside said:

"When local people go to the polls at the end of this month, Rowellians will have the chance to elect a town councillor who will actively listen to the views of local people and be free to take Rothwell's corner, fighting for their interests."

"We have a good community here, but on too many issues the people who run our town are constrained by party loyalty from fighting for the issues that affect us. Be it obtaining a proper grant, tackling dangerous parking or taking effective action on antisocial behaviour, Conservative councillors are far more likely to defend the mistakes of their colleagues elsewhere than to push for the measures needed to improve our area.

"With Labour falling backwards right across Kettering constituency, having suffered in May their worst local election results in decades, it's clear that Labour can no longer provide a credible alternative to the failures of the Tories. I'm standing this time to give Rowellians a fresh voice on the Council, and I'm looking forward to hearing and responding to their views."

ENDS