A WHITEHILL district councillor has been selected as the Liberal Democrats' choice to fight the North East Hampshire constituency at the next general election. 

New prospective parliamentary candidate Adam Carew, 35, was elected by a large majority to represent the Whitehill, Walldown ward in May last year, in doing so becoming the youngest councillor on East Hants District Council. 

An ecologist by profession, Mr Carew is the environment spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats on the district council and a member of the Green Liberal Democrats national executive.  

He is vice-chairman and Lib Dem group leader of the recently launched National Younger Councillors' Forum.   

Mr Carew, who lives in Whitehill, has spent most of his life in North East Hampshire and is a very active member of the local community. His partner is artist and designer Jeni Child.

Mr Carew said: "I am a passionate Liberal Democrat and I am proud to come from this part of Hampshire. I fight hard for my local community and I am delighted to represent the constituency at the next general election. 

"The is a real air of confidence about the Liberal Democrats.  We are both the main opposition to Labour in the north and the Tories in the south.

"We run councils up and down the country and have MPs from Sheffield to Guildford, from Brent East to Leicester South.  

"Tony Blair's new Labour Party have failed to deliver and they have lost the trust of the British people. A Labour vote is a wasted vote here in North East Hampshire as they have no councillors here and no chance of winning.

"The Tories are out of touch and have moved to the right.  Michael Howard is no more popular now than Ian Duncan Smith was before him.  They haven't a snowball in hell's chance of winning the next election and they know it. 

"People are genuinely sick of old style Labour-Tory bickering what they want is a party who listens to them and we aim to do just that. 

"There is a real feeling that we in the Liberal Democrats are on the verge of something very big and we in North East Hampshire are determined to play our part.

"I intend to give Mr Arbuthnot a real run for his money."

Local Liberal Democrats believe that Mr Carew is possibly the first person from Whitehill and Bordon to stand for Parliament.

l The Labour Party has selected Kevin McGrath as its parliamentary candidate for North East Hampshire at the next General Election.

Mr McGrath, 41, is a funding and equity partner who lives in Ealing, London.

He said: "While I acknowledge that North East Hampshire is a strong Conservative seat, I do believe that with an aggressive, exciting campaign I can get the political debate going across the constituency and give James Arbuthnot some real competition at the election and the constituents a real choice."