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…
“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
