Tonight I joined the Liberal Democrats, this is something I’ve been contemplating heavily since leaving Labour earlier this year…which was one of the hardest decisions of my entire life.

You see Labour was a huge part of my identity, I was a Candidate for Labour, General Election Agent for Labour, I wrote Early Day Motions in Parliament that came from my Labour values. Recently though, my values don’t seem to ring true with the new influx to the Labour movement. I took the decision to walk away.

Labour is in my family’s blood, I remember being five years old and waiting outside Tesco with the local paper to give then MP, Norman Godman a cake for his birthday. I poured my soul into Labour elections, I was exceptionally proud when my father became the MP for Inverclyde in 2011.

In 2015, he asked me to be his Election Agent and let me say this I would have done that for no one other than my father because we were a team!

I will undoubtedly lose a number of political friends by making this move, however, with the looming catastrophe of Brexit and Labour’s inability to fight to remain, the choice was made for me. It’s time to put Country before Party, peoples livelihoods depend on it.

I’m a Social Democrat, I believe in a mixed economy but one that tackles poverty and inequality and puts communities at the heart of politics. I’ll be glad to be in the same party as Ian Kearns, pushing a Radical Liberal Policy. One that leans on the ideas of Beveridge and Keynes.

My thanks to Lord Taverne & Michael Mullaney for getting me over the line on making this decision.

Looking forward to speaking with and engaging many new colleagues soon.

David McKenzie