Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate Daniel Callaghan has launched his bid to take the Richmond seat of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. 

Mr Callaghan kicked off his campaign saying rural communities like Richmond, in North Yorkshire, were being short-changed by Sunak's Conservative government.

He said: “Rishi Sunak has been our MP here in Richmond and Northallerton for almost a decade.

"In that time we've lost our only A&E at Northallerton, our rivers are among some of the most polluted in the country, our farmers and small businesses are being sold out, and you can't even get a filling with an NHS dentist.

"Meanwhile his party crashed the economy and left us all worse off. I hope people will go into this General Election asking themselves whether they really feel life has got better since he was parachuted in.”

Mr Callaghan, who was born and raised in the constituency, says his decision to stand as a candidate was driven by his desire to fight for a rural rethink on policies such as access to health care, better support for our farmers and local businesses, school funding and care for our countryside.

He said: “I couldn’t stand by and watch another four years of the Tories taking our area for granted.

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"Labour have declared this to be a non-battleground seat. They might not be up for the fight round here, but I and my fellow Liberal Democrats most definitely are.”

He added: “As recent by-elections have shown, there's no such thing as a safe Tory seat anymore. People here deserve better than an MP who takes them for granted.

"They deserve a Yorkshire champion who will fight for us, tooth and nail, from day one in Parliament, and I stand ready to be that person."