A FORMER Wyre Forest student will fight the district seat for the Liberal Democrats at the next parliamentary elections.

Neville Farmer, an ex-pupil of King Charles I School, in Kidderminster, was elected to fill the vacant position of prospective parliamentary candidate at a meeting of the party's Wyre Forest membership on Monday last week.

The 46-year-old, also backed by the district's Liberal group, will lead the party's fight for the Wyre Forest Westminster seat in the next election, due to take place in in two years time.

The political group's previous choice, Ron Cockings, stepped down in November, citing personal commitments.

It would be the first Wyre Forest parliamentary election fought by a Liberal Democrat candidate since 2001, when the party stepped aside for Health Concern's Dr Richard Taylor who went on to win the seat.

Mr Farmer, who grew up in Franche, said: "Dr Taylor has been a superb Member of Parliament and his election for two terms showed the people of Wyre Forest are prepared to vote against the grain.

"But I believe it is time to move on from single issue politics and deal with issues such as poverty, crime, the environment and education, as well as health."

Mr Farmer said he would work closely with the party's Wyre Forest district councillors to get the Liberal Democrat message to voters.

He supports the national "pupil premium" policy, in which schools are encouraged to help children from poorer backgrounds and the replacement of the "unfair" council tax with a local income tax.

Mr Farmer has experience in journalism, writing articles for the Daily Express and New York Times, television production and writing Liberal Democrat policy.

His father is former Conservative Wyre Forest district councillor, Tony MacKenzie-Farmer.