Kettering's Liberal Democrat candidate wants to help his party stop Brexit

Chris Nelson says he can pick up the centre vote as the other two main parties move more to the left and right.

Liberal Democrat candidate Chris Nelson is confident that his party can make the most of the opportunity of the two main parties’ more extreme political realignment and take more of the centre ground vote.

He says his party’s pro remain stance has been going down well with voters on the doorstep and over the past month the party has recruited new members, including former Labour candidates.

The candidate, who stood in the seat in 2010, is Kettering born and bred.

He said: “The main reason I am standing is to stop Brexit. We want to give people the opportunity to end the current situation and if we were to win we would revoke Article 50.

“We want to bring an end to the whole charade, which is going to damage the British economy.

“We are finding there are huge numbers of people who are finding neither of the two main parties represent their views, with Labour and the Conservatives moving more to the extremes.

“The Liberal Democrats came second in the recent European elections and we are finding that people are coming towards us.”

He says a policy he is excited about is the Liberal Democrats’ pledge to invest more in adult training, with every over-25 given funding over the course of three decades to spend on learning to further their work opportunities.

As a teacher he is also keen to see more investment in schools as he has seen himself local schools having to reduce the numbers of support staff in the classroom due to funding gaps.

He is also keen that the new unitary system of governance likely to come into the county gives more of a voice to the local areas rather than becoming more centralised.

He said: “Whatever happens in North Northamptonshire it is crucial that decisions are made as close to the area as possible. I would want to see as many powers devolved to the town councils as possible.”

In 2017 the Liberal Democrat candidate gained 1,618 votes with long standing MP Philip Hollobone romping to victory with a majority of 10,562 votes over the second place Labour candidate.

Standing against Mr Hollobone and Mr Nelson for the Kettering seat are Labour’s Clare Pavitt, Green Party candidate Jamie Wildman and Independent Jim Hakewill.