The Liberal Democrats are delighted to announce that Antoinette Sandbach has joined the party.
Antoinette, who is the MP for Eddisbury in Cheshire, will contest her seat as the Liberal Democrat candidate in the coming General Election.
She is the eighth addition to the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party in the last few months.
Liberal Democrat MP Antoinette Sandbach said:
This general election will be the most important in my lifetime. People have a very clear choice, the Conservative party offers years of uncertainty whilst the Liberal Democrats will stop Brexit.
I’m so proud to stand alongside other Liberal Democrat candidates across the country to fight for a brighter future with Jo Swinson, our candidate to be Prime Minister.
I will stand on my strong local record, helping to secure local investment, fighting for fair funding for our schools and to secure additional funding in local health services.
Our country deserves so much better than Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn. I can’t wait to get to work, win this election and then deliver for my constituents and our country.
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson said:
I am delighted to welcome Antoinette to the Liberal Democrats. She is a passionate campaigner, and will be a fantastic candidate at the General Election and a great addition to our party. Her defection clearly shows that the Liberal Democrats are the strongest party of Remain and attracting support from right across the political spectrum.
Antoinette is one of the millions of people who are tired of the two old parties, led by people who will take our country backwards, not forwards. It is only the Liberal Democrats that will stop Brexit and build the brighter future that our country deserves.
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16 Comments
An impressive MP. And a good Lib Dem bunch in that constituency. Hope it goes well for both.
I wish her (like all the Lib Dem candidates) the best luck in the general election.
We have had to keep quiet about this for a couple of days, but now we have a Lib Dem MP, first since 1931!
88 years is a long wait, and no I don’t remember it.
Hell of a mountain to climb now, from 7% to winning, and I am sinking fast with a cold!
This is a seat that voted leave and which the brexit party won by over ten percent in the Euro elections. It’s great she wants to be our candidate and all but can we really afford to divert activists and funds to seats like this? We’re already at serious risk of overstretching in this election as things are.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000686
EU Parliament result for Cheshire West and Chester which includes Eddisbury:
https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/your-council/voting-and-elections/election-results/2019-elections/european-parliamentary-election-2019/European-Election-2019-results.aspx
Well, if the Green party, as a part of the Unite to Remain -alliance, doesn’t stand a candidate, and if a decent part of her votes are personal / incumbency votes, maybe there is some kind of chance that she will retain her seat. Given that the seat voted Leave, it’s clever to stand on her achievements as a constituency MP.
@Andy Hyde
You talk about mountains to climb. Well, at 6ft 4ins, Antoinette should be your man (sorry, woman).
Seriously though, I have nothing but admiration for those former Tory MPs, who have been prepared to switch parties and try to win seemingly safe Tory seats. I suppose it all depends on whether the seats voted Remain or not. As long as they don’t prove to be latter day Emma Nicholson’s.
Get some Vitamin C inside you quick!
Yes Eddisbury did vote leave, but only narrowly, Cheshire West voted leave by 0.5%. The Eddisbury leave majority was in Winsford, a strong Labour area (apart from the Ward we hold, Swanlow), in a GE they will normally vote Labour or stay at home. The rest of Eddisbury is commuter villages, hamlets and farms, no other towns.
As for diverting effort, it’s almost an hour drive to Cheadle our nearest target seat, there will be a small loss to them, but this will generate a lot of new local activity in here and neighbouring constituencies.
I have no idea how well we will do, but we will give it our best!
No-one seems to have noticed or commented that this defection to the Lib Dems means that our 20 MPs are 10 men and 10 women. No other party has achieved that level of equality. Let’s hope that that balance can be maintained after the election.
I thought we Lib Dems were all for fairness & equality – yet all the defectors are coming to us, and we’re giving none back in return!
Welcome Antionette.
Did we have a candidate for Eddisbury before the defection?
Aren’t we at 21 now, given Stephen Lloyd’s rejoining – or has that not been officially recognised (I’ve only seen it mentioned on LDV)?
John B – a post about Stephen Lloyd will follow later this afternoon. He didn’t resign from the party, only from the whip.
Does any one else find John Marriott’s comments about Antoinette offensive? IMO this is the kind of “joke” which isn’t funny and demeans people.
“I see thee the two main parties being stuck in the past and floating off to two extremes.”
“The Liberal Democrats reflect my values.”
“The defection had been discussed for months and was not the result of losing the whip after voting to block a no-deal Brexit”
The Times 1/11/19 page 15 columns 3-4.