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# Eve of the election statement: Paul Ray (Liberal Democrats)
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/eve-of-the-election-statement-paul-ray-liberal-democrats/
- Published: 2015-05-06T17:00:17.000Z
- Updated: 2015-05-04T18:27:23.000Z
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: GE2015, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 20:42, News

### With 12 hours to go until the polls open, Lichfield and Burntwood’s candidates have been invited to make one final plea to voters in their own words.

### Below is Liberal Democrat candidate Paul Ray’s eve of the election statement…

[![Paul Ray](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e3/90/e390c3da-0866-4d2a-8ffe-ca4999d7ce1c/content/images/lichfieldlive-co-uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/paulray.jpg)](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2015/05/06/eve-of-the-election-statement-paul-ray-liberal-democrats/paulray-2/)

Paul Ray

“This has been a long election campaign with so many messages and numbers banded around. So I want to set out very briefly what we stand for in this election:

- Stronger Economy – Ensuring we balance the budget fairly and invest in a high skill economy.
- Fairer taxes – Cutting income tax further by raising the tax-free allowance to £12,500 by 2020.
- Quality healthcare – The NHS will have the extra £8bn per year it needs and we will make sure mental health is treated on an equal footing with physical health.
- Opportunity for every child – Protecting the education budget from cradle to college.
- Our environment protected – Five new Green Laws to make transport green, commit to a Zero Carbon Britain by 2050, making buildings much more energy efficient.

We are facing a coalition again and the Lib Dems guarantee balance and fairness. The deficit reduction should NOT mainly come from cuts – which is the Tory policy.

We say 20% should come from tax on highest earners and an additional bank levy. And we must not let Labour borrow the £70bn extra in their spending commitments.

The Liberal Democrats will borrow less than Labour and cut less than the Conservatives.

I urge you to vote Lib Dem. I would really appreciate your vote.”

*The candidates standing in the Lichfield constituency in May are:*

- *Andy Bennetts – Class War*
- *Michael Fabricant – Conservatives*
- *Robert Pass – Green Party*
- *John Rackham – UKIP*
- *Paul Ray – Lib Dem*
- *Chris Worsey – Labour*