Chris Leggett is the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Northampton North

First and foremost I believe everyone should be free to live their life how they wish as long as it doesn't impact others safety or health, so I supported the right to gay marriage, and would be a firm advocate for dignity in dying. I would encourage local authorities to build social housing again, using the revenue from the sale of council houses. It is a basic truth that a good home is a fundamental ingredient for a strong society. I will ensure that everyone has access to the housing that they need.

I believe that PR is essential for a modem democratic state. Consensus politics will prevent an extremist government from having all the power and thereby lead to policies that will actually work rather than our to-and-fro gesture politics from the left and right leaning parties. It would also give a voice to minority views and ensure they have influence in parliament. For example, Just Stop Oil would not be able to claim they had no political representation as their views would be tested at the ballot box and would allow those views to be challenged in parliament based on a fair representation of the public’s views. It is also highly unlikely that we would have left the EU with such a harmful deal to the UK as it was clear from the polls, even in 2016, that a so-called Soft Brexit was more popular than the Hard Brexit the Conservatives implemented.

I will champion cleaning up the House of Commons by limiting donations to £10,000 a year to a party, put the Ministerial Code into law to hold corrupt and incompetent MPs to account and the introduction of a written constitution as relying on the decency of those that govern us without sanction has failed us.

Public service companies that are, in effect, monopolies should be held to the highest standards of compliance and safety. They should also be held to provide good value in those services and pricing structures implemented that ensure life-critical services, such as energy and water, are affordable for all members of our society no matter their personal circumstances. No private company should be able to make super-profits at the public’s expense and I will advocate robust legislation to ensure this is the case, including a standard mechanism to be implemented without the need for new legislation in each circumstance. Where there is no benefit to private ownership for public services, the state should manage and control these where feasible.

I think the misguided thought that trade with far flung countries can replace trade with our EU neighbours has been proven without doubt to be a fallacy and I will push for closer alignment with the EU, building trust and consensus with the goal of membership of the Customs Union to break down trade barriers and, in time, rejoin the Single Market and become a full member of the EU again and allow our businesses, large and small, to once again flourish in the largest trading block in the world. It will also help to ensure that Europe remains at peace with itself and protect what my father fought for in World War II.

As a final, key, change to how our society works, I will support and champion legislation that will ensure that everyone pays their fair share of the tax burden. The richest members of our society often pay the lowest tax rates on their income. I believe that all income, be it from a weekly pay check, dividends or shares should all be taxed in the same way, simplifying the tax systems thereby helping to minimise tax avoidance and evasion. There will still need to be incentives for investment in our growing and emerging new businesses but these should be ring-fenced and time-limited to avoid abuse by those seeking to avoid their financial responsibility to the nation.

Chris has always had a strong sense of right and wrong, with an emphasis on fairness above all. He has also always held liberal philosophies such as the right to live your life without fear or prejudice whilst also respecting the principles of avoiding or minimising harm to others caused by your or someone else’s actions. As he grew up his ideas evolved and matured, as they do for everyone, through the benefits of lived experience and the challenges that life always throws at you.

Chris was brought up in a safe and secure environment and spent much of his youth as part of the Red Cross supporting many areas of the community. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe where he was lucky to visit Germany, France and Russia and had the harrowing experience of seeing the Berlin Wall before its fall. He decided to leave home at 18 and sought to build a new life with his then fiancée, Justine. They moved several times during their lives, living and working in many parts of the UK including London, Kent, Buckinghamshire, Clackmannanshire, Livingston and, most recently, Northamptonshire where they decided to finally settle and start a family. Their son, Michael, was born after they were married for nearly 20 years and he is now studying at the University of Northampton. Chris has also worked in many other countries including France, Spain, India, Fiji, Mauritius, the Middle East and the United States as part of roles based in the UK. These experiences helped to round out his understanding of many parts of the UK and the wider world and their cultures.

His father was based on a Minesweeper during the second half of the Second World War and helped fight to preserve our democratic freedoms from the oppression of the extreme right wing and fascism. In recent years these have been under attack from within, with many tactics used in autocratic states seeding their way into life in the UK. This, along with the antiquated First Past the Post electoral system has put our basic human rights and freedoms under attack, invisible to many, like the frog in the boiling pot. Chris decided that enough was enough, he could no longer leave protecting our health, security and inalienable freedoms to the Conservatives, and does not trust Labour to be brave enough to lead us back to our basic British ideals of fairness, care and inclusivity, preferring achieving and staying in power rather than persuade the great British public to support what will, in fact rather than ideology, make us all better off financially and culturally.