Local councillor, John Redfern, has been selected by the Liberal Democrats as their prospective parliamentary candidate to fight the Staffordshire Moorlands constituency at the General Election in May. John, who's 55 and was educated at Sandbach Grammar and Warwick University, works for Stoke-on-Trent College. He has lived in Knypersley for 40 years and has represented Biddulph South ward on the Moorlands District Council for 17 years.
Henry Jebb, leader of the Lib Dem Council Group, commented 'John Redfern is the right choice for Staffs Moorlands. He is a genuine local and has a wealth of knowledge and ideas about the challenges facing people in the Moorlands and is our Deputy Council Group Leader.'
John Redfern commented 'I am looking forward to the campaign! The Lib Dems have given the country a stable Coalition Government in perilous times. We have made the, often difficult, choices necessary to deal with the mountain of debt we inherited. Outnumbered five to one by Tory MPs, we have curbed their worst excesses while taking three million low paid workers out of income tax completely, by raising the personal allowance from just £6475 under Labour to £10,600 this year, something that David Cameron said in 2010 was not possible. We think it is wrong that workers on the minimum wage should have to pay income tax at all and so we are committed to further raising the personal allowance to at least £12500 while levying higher taxes on those who can well afford to pay them. Another priority is the 2.5 billion pound pupil premium, which puts more money into schools, targeted at pupils who need the most help.
The sacrifices made over the last four years have brought about a recovery and thankfully, unemployment in the Moorlands has dropped by 60% since 2010. I am now deeply worried that Conservative plans to end the deficit only by further deep cuts to our services would fail to deliver the claimed savings and will have a disastrous effect on those vulnerable people who depend on them. Labour, as always, mean well there but there must be serious doubts about their economic credibility while Eds Milliband and Balls, who were at the wheel in the Treasury during the great crash in 2008, continue to direct their economic policy.
In the event of no party having a majority in May, having UKIP or other minor parties with any say in Government would lead to great instability. We need a substantial block of Lib Dem MPs to ensure a stable Government that will promote economic growth which will be shared by all, not just a wealthy few and I will be fighting hard to be amongst them.'
