Hornsey and Wood Green Liberal Democrats last night selected local party leader Lynne Featherstone to be their Parliamentary spokesperson. Ms Featherstone, who is also a member of the Greater London Authority, stood for the party in the general elections of 1997 and 2001, where she is credited with having hugely increased the Lib Dem share of the vote in Hornsey and Wood Green at the expense of both the Conservatives and Labour.

The Hornsey and Wood Green Parliamentary seat is now widely regarded as an excellent prospect for the Liberal Democrats, with key election pundits now tipping the seat as a close contest between the party and Labour.The recently published Political Map of Britain says the seat has “the possibility of a Lib Dem gain from Labour” at the next general election. The Lib Dems comfortably outpolled Labour in the recent local elections and Conservative Central Office, having seen the Tory vote pushed down to third place and just 16%, have left the seat off their list of targets for the next election.

Despite being nationally advertised, Lynne Featherstone’s renowned track record of local campaigning led to no other challengers for the nomination.She was therefore selected unanimously.

Speaking after the selection meeting, Lynne Featherstone said:

“I am delighted to have been chosen as Parliamentary spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, and look forward to the challenge ahead. I will be campaigning, as I have always done, on the key issues that matter to local people, such as tackling crime, the health service, education, and of course transport. I will also continue to campaign to get rid of the borough’s dreadful Labour council.”

Former party president, Valerie Silbiger, said of Lynne Featherstone’s appointment:

“We are tremendously fortunate to have Lynne as our Parliamentary spokesperson. We will all continue to work closely with her over the coming years, and we are increasingly confident of future successes with Lynne at the helm.”