Lib Dems choose Beaconsfield candidate

Feb 3 2010 By Jack Abell

THE LIBERAL Democrats have chosen their candidate for the Beaconsfield constituency for the forthcoming general election.

John Edwards, 42, an accountant from Windsor, has been voted into the role for the constituency which includes Beaconsfield itself, as well as Gerrards Cross, Denham, Burnham, Iver, Bourne End, Flackwell Heath and Marlow.

All paid up members were entitled to vote at a Lib Dem meeting held in Beaconsfield on Saturday, January 30.

He will now be up against MP Dominic Grieve of the Conservative party for the role when the election takes place later this year.

He has pledged to support current Lib Dem policies to make education a platform, and to scrap the ID card scheme.

Mr Edwards said: "I am really looking forward to my first general election as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats.

"Politicians should stop using the NHS as a football and back the professionals, both clinical and non-clinical, to run it for the benefit of us all."

From 2004 until 2008, Mr Edwards was a member of the cabinet in the joint administration which ran Slough Borough Council and put the environment and recycling at the top of the council's agenda.

Mr Edwards works in Slough as a finance professional in a FTSE 250 company, and the Lib Dems hope his experience will be useful with all three major parties currently examining the financial deficit and the National Debt.

Most experts predict that May 6 is the likely date for Gordon Brown to choose for polling day.