Richard Foord will be our Liberal Democrat candidate for the upcoming Tiverton & Honiton by-election.

I was proud to serve my country in the Armed Forces for ten years and now want to serve my community in Westminster.

Richard Foord

Richard lives in Uffculme with his wife and family. He grew up in the West Country and served for ten years in the army after graduating from Sandhurst, reaching the rank of Major and receiving three campaign medals for service in Iraq and the Balkans.

Last night, on the same day we found out families face the biggest cost of living crunch in 40 years, Conservative MPs voted against an emergency tax cut which would save families £600 a year.

Here we find ourselves again. It is now coming up on two years since the Conservatives' first threatened to break international law over the Northern Ireland Protocol. Then, this time last year, we heard the continued threats over Article 16 which threatened to overshadow the G7 summit in Cornwall. And now, we are awaiting a rumoured announcement from the Foreign Secretary regarding legislation which will, reportedly, unilaterally rip up the Protocol.

Since Spring Conference, most members will have been focused on the Local Elections which took place in many parts of the country - and rightly so: the hard work has paid off, with some truly fantastic gains made from both the Conservatives and Labour. Particular mention should go to our amazing Chief Steward at Conference, Mike Ross, who is now the Leader of Hull Council! Massive congratulations to Mike and the whole team.

The Liberal Democrats have selected Cllr Sarah Dyke as their candidate for the Somerton and Frome constituency.

Sarah lives in the constituency and is from a Somerset farming family which can be traced back over 250 years to the local area. Sarah worked in the agricultural industry and is Portfolio Holder for the Environment on South Somerset District Council where she is spearheading rewilding programmes, investment in electric vehicle charging points and the council's zero-carbon targets.

Liberal Democrats won right across the country in May's local elections with successes from the Scottish Highlands to Somerset, from Kingston-Upon-Thames to Kingston-Upon-Hull, from Powys to St Albans.

Liberal Democrats elected 868 Councillors, a net gain of 224!

We are winning again because we are listening to people. Because we hear their concerns and their frustration. Because we are standing up for our values, standing up for our communities, and fighting for a fair deal.

We're winning

What an amazing outcome from this May's local elections:

• Three more Liberal Democrat majority councils, taking us back to where we were before going into Coalition in 2010;
• A net gain of 224 councillors, making this the fourth set of net gains in a row, something we've not achieved since the Iraq war;
• 19% vote share (the national equivalent vote share, i.e. what it would have been if there were elections everywhere); and
• The lovely bonus of seeing our sister party in Northern Ireland, Alliance, gaining seats and votes to move up to such an impressive third place.