A Liberal Democrat election hopeful says the decision by Tory candidates to rebrand themselves as ‘Local Conservatives’ is a “shameless” attempt to fool voters.
Jamie Christie will contest the Leomansley ward on Lichfield District Council and Lichfield City Council.
Among those he will be up against in the local elections on 4th May will be Local Conservatives candidates.
Despite claims that the moniker is not an attempt to distance themselves from the party’s national policy, Mr Christie said his Tory rivals was a “cynical attempt” to pull the wool over the eyes of voters.
“While local election candidates in Liz Truss’s constituency can perhaps be forgiven for wanting to spare themselves the embarrassment of being associated with the former Prime Minister’s party, Conservative associations in Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, and elsewhere seem similarly keen to put some distance between themselves and the national party.
“The practice has become so widespread that – ironically enough – it’s presumably been sanctioned at the national level.
“This is not a brand-new phenomenon either. In a 2022 local election in Hartlepool, a ‘Local Conservative’ begged voters ‘please don’t punish local Conservatives for the mistakes made in Westminster’.
“The attempt to pretend that your local Conservative candidates aren’t remotely the same as Conservative Party MPs down in Westminster just all seems to be a bit more shameless in 2023.
“But those Westminster MPs represent local constituencies, and are selected by the same local party organisations who put up candidates in local elections.
“If ‘Local Conservatives’ were really so keen to distance themselves from the national party, they could always come up with some distinctive policies and de-select the MPs that they seem so ashamed of.
“Since they don’t, we can only assume that the slightly silly attempt to rebrand at the local level is a cynical attempt to fool voters.”
Jamie Christie
But Neil Boulton, a Conservative candidate for the Leomansley ward on Lichfield City Council, said there was a straightforward explanation.
“It’s because we are local councillors, local candidates, local people.
“It’s not about us trying to distance ourselves from the national party, that’s why we still have Conservative in the name.
“It’s about the importance of local services and highlighting what is important locally.”
Neil Boulton
The full list of candidates standing for election to Lichfield City Council in the Leomansley ward:
- James Blackman – Labour
- Neil Boulton – Conservatives
- Jamie Checkland – Conservatives
- Jamie Christie – Liberal Democrats
- Sally Gilbert – Conservatives
- Jill Guest – Conservatives
- Jacob Marshall – Labour
- Michael Mullarkey – Conservatives
- Andrew Rushton – Liberal Democrats
- Edmund Strain – Labour
- Benjamin Watkins – Labour
The at a glance list of candidates standing for election to Lichfield District Council in the Leomansley ward:
James Blackman
Labour
Jamie Checkland
Conservatives
Jamie Christie
Liberal Democrats
Paul Ecclestone-Brown
Greens
Sally Gilbert
Conservatives
Richard Henshaw
Liberal Democrats
Andy Smith
Conservatives
