Nick Clegg has been dealt a blow by a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate’s decision to defect to Labour in protest at his leader’s acceptance of Conservative policies and abandonment of key elements of his party’s programme.
Andrew Lewin, at 23 the youngest Lib Dem candidate in England at the May election, urged the party’s MPs to oppose controversial cuts in housing benefit in a Commons vote tomorrow. He claimed hardly any Lib Dem MPs support them, saying the party was being forced to swallow “a virtually unreformed Conservative agenda”.
Although several councillors have left the party in protest at the Coalition’s policies, Mr Lewin is the first candidate to walk out.
The public relations consultant insisted his views had not changed and that it was the Lib Dems who had moved away from him.
… more at The Independent
