Simon Thorley selected by Liberal Democrats for Darlington

The Northern Echo reports:

A businesman born and raised in Darlington has been selected as the town’s Parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats.

Simon Thorley, 37, says a radical, long-term plan to rejuvenate the town centre – prioritising better public transport, the creation of well-paid jobs, and improved cycling infrastructure – will be at the heart of his campaign to become Darlington’s next MP…

Mr Thorley, who is also standing for the Lib Dems in Park West in May’s council elections, was born at Greenbank Maternity Hospital, and went to Abbey Junior School, Hummersknott Academy and Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College before studying politics at Edinburgh University.

While at university, he spent a year in Hong Kong studying Chinese politics and, after graduating, he moved to Taiwan to study Mandarin.

He returned to Britain in 2011 and lived in London until 2020 when he moved back to Darlington, where he lives with his wife, Nicole, and children, Clara, five, and Jack, three.

Mr Thorley, who also speaks French, is managing director of InTuition Languages, which specialises in language training…

Mr Thorley branded the Government’s Levelling Up campaign as “pork barrel politics”, adding: “They’ve cut councils’ funding by 20 per cent, then made them beg for money from funds that are controlled centrally. It stinks and needs to be replaced, with the money returned to the councils. We need less bureaucracy, not more.”

See all the Liberal Democrat PPCs selected and publicly announced so far here.

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