RICHARD ALLANACH WELCOMES ELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT

5.02.14pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 5th Apr 2005

Richard Allanach

Richard Allanach, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Rugby and Kenilworth has welcomed the decision to hold the general election on 5 May 2005.

"Whilst the other parties bicker we shall be addressing the key questions that face Britain" said Mr Allanach.

"- How can we make the world a safer place?

• How can we tackle global warming?

• How can we approach the challenges of an ageing population?

Only the Liberal Democrats will be offering solutions to these problems during the election campaign.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party truthful enough to acknowledge that a tax rise is necessary to pay for our plans and have set out our proposal to raise a 50 pence in the £ tax on incomes above £100,000 a year. This extra money will pay for the abolition of university tuition fees, free personal care for the elderly and help with the transition from Council Tax to a Local Income Tax.

We were the only political party to end 2004 with more councillors, more MPs and more members of the European Parliament than we started with.

Last year we saw important local elections in Rugby where the Liberal Democrats came second and in Kenilworth where we gained a seat from the Tories. As the election progresses more and more people will come to recognise that we are the real alternative to this discredited government."