Durham Lib Dems formally 'adopt' parliamentary candidate

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 15th Apr 2010

Sir Alan Beith congratulating Carol Woods on her adoption

Durham Liberal Democrats have formally adopted Carol Woods as their parliamentary candidate for the general Election to be held on May 6th.

Carol was selected as the candidate in 2006 and last night's meeting of the local party unanimously confirmed that selection as part of the pre-election formalities.

The adoption event was held at Mount Oswald Golf Club in Durham and Sir Alan Beith, Lib Dem MP for Berwick, was the guest speaker at the event. He stressed the importance of a Lib Dem victory in Durham this time, criticising the Labour party's neglect of County Durham which he said resulted from a complacency that they would win here without trying.

Carol has high hopes of winning the seat, with recent polling putting her neck and neck with Labour.

After being officially adopted as the candidate, Carol addressed the meeting and said:

"I'm very proud to be adopted as the Durham Liberal Democrat's candidate for Parliament, and grateful for all the hard work people have already put into the campaign. When the Lib Dems ran the City Council we proved we could make a positive difference to Durham, now we have three weeks to ensure we get a Lib Dem MP here who will be able to do even more. Durham deserves better than Labour have given us, we have to win this time.

"We are so close to a momentous change here, and with your energy and hard-work I know we will run our best ever campaign and give ourselves a real chance of winning for Durham on May 6th.