@BenJLFearn
@LibDemBen
Ben Fearn 21 year-old candidate to fight Derbyshire Dales seat
The youngest candidate in the Derbyshire Dales' history is to fight the Parliamentary seat held by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin at next year's General Election.
Derbyshire Dales Liberal Democrats have unanimously selected 21-year-old local man Ben Fearn, currently in his final year as a student at Manchester University.
He has also work for a short time in 2011 and 2012 for Derbyshire County Council.
From 2009 to 2010 he worked in a pub.
He was engaged in 2007 (according to FaceBook entry, He would have of course been only 15 at the time young love!0
Currently Single and Methodist Christian and a Derby County FC programme seller and supporter.
Ben Fearn, met the oldest local LibDem members, 89-year-old former district councillor Alun Thomas of Winster the day after winning the candidacy, was born and bred in the Dales and is the grandson of former Liberal county and district councillor the late John Leslie Fearn, a headmaster in Parwich throughout the 1960s.
And the young politician, who turns 22 in May, immediately pledged to battle to give the Derbyshire Dales a voice. He said: "I couldn't be more delighted to be given the opportunity to fight to be the MP of a beautiful part of the world I am proud to call home.
"Despite the high profile of the sitting MP, it is troubling to note that the Derbyshire Dales receives less Government cash than any other district in the county. There's a perception that the Dales is a well-off area of the UK, but the reality is very different. On average, wages in the Dales are the lowest in the county and our town centres in particular desperately need help.
"I want to fly the flag for the Derbyshire Dales and to replace safe-seat complacency with a new energy to reinvigorate this district."
Mr Fearn, who writes a political blog called Views from the Centre Left (http://viewsfromthecentre-left.blogspot.co.uk/), is under no illusions about the challenge ahead. "I will always be open and honest with the electorate about what I think the Liberal Democrats are getting right - and getting wrong - in the Coalition government," he said.
"Having an influence in a Coalition is about making compromises, and while we got it wrong on tuition fees, we have recorded significant achievements, not least raising the income tax threshold to ?10,000 and beyond, introducing a multi-billion pound pupil premium and the biggest ever increase in the state pension.
"More than that, our presence has blocked Tory plans for an Inheritance Tax cut for millionaires, firing workers at will, a Snooper’s Charter, ditching the Human Rights Act and profit making in state schools."
Chairman of Derbyshire Dales Liberal Democrats, Darley Dale councillor David Fearn (no relation) said: "I worked alongside Ben's grandfather John Leslie Fearn, who was the most genuine human being I have ever met. Ben is from the same mould, and what he lacks in years he more than makes up for with remarkable grasp for politics at a local, national and international level.
"His speech to the local party at last Friday's hustings meeting was truly the most impressive and inspiring I have heard in all my years as a Derbyshire Dales politician."
Listen to Ben Fearn at 7.30am tomorrow (Tuesday 14th January 2014)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_derby
