Lib Dem fight is on for Salter's seat

Adam Hewitt • Published 17 Dec 2009 09:15 4 Comments

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READING councillor Daisy Benson has thrown her hat into the ring to contest Martin Salter's seat at the next general election.

She is one of three Lib Dems seeking to become the party's candidate in Reading West, following the sudden resignation of Patrick Murray in August.

Cllr Benson is facing off against West Berkshire councillor Tony Vickers and former Thatcham mayor and ex-West Berkshire councillor, Alex Payton. The three hopefuls will need to get the Reading West party faithful onside ahead of the final vote at a hustings on Friday, January 8 in Tilehurst.

Cllr Benson, who is deputy Lib Dem leader on Reading Borough Council and chairs its housing, health and community care scrutiny panel, said: "The Lib Dems have a great track record of getting things done and we give people an alternative from the two other parties. Housing, health and crime are my main concerns."

Cllr Tony Vickers is a former senior Army officer who retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1995 and is now a chartered surveyor, writer, and land policy lecturer at Kingston University.

His main interests are transport, planning policy and the environment and he said he hoped to boost the party's standing in the Reading portion of West Berkshire, adding: "The party hasn't made much of an effort for many years now in that area, I want to change that, and I want to see Reading run by Liberal Democrats as they run many other major towns and cities around the country."

Mr Payton, who has family in Reading and lives in Newbury, could not be reached for comment yesterday (Wednesday).

Chairman of the Greater Reading party, Coling Lawley, said: "Reading is an exciting place to be for Liberal Democrats, following recent electoral success. With Martin Salter standing down, the Labour vote in freefall and the Tories yet to seal the deal with voters, we're expecting to do very well in the general election."

The successful candidate will be battling against the Tories' Alok Sharma, who has been campaigning for more than three years, and Labour's Naz Sarkar who was selected in June. UKIP have chosen Bruce Hay.

At the last general election in 2005, Martin Salter won 18,940 votes, handily beating the Conservatives' 14,268, the Lib Dems' 6,663 and UKIP's 1,180. Adrian Windisch for the Greens, who is standing again, secured 921. Political analysts say the seat is a likely but not certain Tory gain.

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Paul Swaddle
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Dec 18, 12:04
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At least the Lib Dems are honest enough to admit that "The party hasn't made much of an effort for many years now in that area". We always thought that they did not care, but now its offical.

Paul

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Spanky
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Dec 18, 15:28
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Sadly Paul, the Tory's haven't made much effort either. In the 10 or so years I have lived in the area why have I never had a Tory visitor at my door? Sadly I only ever got bothered by Salter's cronies.

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Tony
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Dec 18, 19:31
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I've had more Tory leaflets in the past 6 months than I've had Lib Dem leaflets in the past 5 years. And had tories call on me twice in the past two years... spanky don't you think you could have been out when they called? I haven't had a Lib Dem or Labour around in ages, but I could have been out!

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Spanky
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Dec 21, 09:38
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Tony, I agree with you on the leaflet front.

And yes it is entirely possible I was out when people came a knocking but I do think the chances of being out when they came for over ten years is probably quite low.

I just find it a little rich for a Tory to come on here and decry the libdem lack of effort in the area when the tory efforts have amounted to a couple of leaflets.

I would gladly welcome a Tory visitor to my door and find their previous lack of effort frustrating but perhaps my road is seen as a lost cause?

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