The Liberal Democrats believe Lichfield and Burntwood residents should be passionate about Britain’s membership of the European Union.
Parliamentary candidate Paul Ray, 52, believes the country can be proud of the number of major corporations that want to invest in Britain.
He also claims that the European Union has been a force for good in the world that has prevented conflict.
He said: “Some of the best companies in the world – Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Airbus and Jaguar Land Rover – locate their European operations to the UK because we are in the European single market.
“Isn’t it something to be proud of that these businesses want to invest and create jobs in our country? Let’s get passionate about our membership of the EU.
“I understand that the EU is not perfect and that it does need reform and that we need to ensure that our immigration system controls abuses.
“But we must not forget that there has been peace in Europe for over 60 years and this has been fundamentally due to countries working together within Europe.”
But Conservative candidate Michael Fabricant revealed he would vote to leave the EU if Britain’s relationship with Europe was not reformed.
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold an in-out referendum in 2017 on Britain’s EU membership if the Conservatives win the general election.
Mr Fabricant added that he believes Britain would thrive outside of Europe.
He said: “I would vote to leave the EU if David Cameron was unable to renegotiate our relationship with Brussels by 2017.
“I believe Britain would be wealthier outside of the EU. If Britain voted to leave, we could negotiate independent trading deals with Europe, China and emerging economies, which we are currently forbidden to do as EU members.
“The businesses that are opposed to an in-out EU referendum in 2017 are the same companies who said it would be a disaster if Britain didn’t join the Euro.
“The US state department actually did an investigation into our relationship with the EU and they concluded that we would be better off out of the union.”
But Mr Ray believes that Britain would struggle to negotiate trade deals outside of the EU.
He said: “We would have to discuss trade deals alone – and we represent just three per cent of global GDP, so our negotiating power would be very limited.”
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
