IT WILL be a clash of the political titans at the General Election after Dr Phillip Lee announced that he was due to contest the Wokingham parliamentary seat.
The current Bracknell MP switched parties from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats earlier this month.
His Bracknell constituency party had voted to deselect him earlier this year, over his Brexit views.
Dr Lee believes that the country should remain part of Europe and is a leader of a campaign for a second referendum, Right To Vote.
While a majority of Bracknell Forest Council residents voted to Leave in the 2016 referendum, his Bracknell constituency includes parts of Wokingham Borough Council, which voted to Remain.
This puts Wokingham residents at odds with Wokingham parliamentary constituency MP, Sir John Redwood. None of the areas in which he is MP for voted to Leave the European Union.
Despite this, there was an increase in the number of people who voted for him in the 2017 General Election.
The arch Eurosceptic is an advocate of leaving on October 31.
In his blog, he wrote: “The best course remains for the UK to leave on 31 October as promised, whilst offering comprehensive free trade talks and a no tariffs exit on that date”.
Having Dr Lee as a Liberal Democrat candidate for Wokingham creates an unpredictable battleground in the forthcoming General Election, which is likely to happy in November or the New Year.
In May’s local elections the Liberal Democrats doubled its presence on Wokingham Borough Council to 16, while Labour failed to make any gains.
However, Labour’s Andy Croy came second in the 2017 General Election, almost doubling his share of the vote from 8,132 to 15,008, while Liberal Democrat candidate Clive Jones went from 8,132 votes to 9,512 votes.
