Lib Dem’s Hazel Grove candidate offers ‘fulsome apology’ after anti-Liverpool comments

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The Lib Dem candidate in Hazel Grove has offered a "fulsome apology" after making an anti-Liverpool slur while campaigning. Lisa Smart, who also serves as a Stockport councillor, has come under fire after a video shared by the Daily Mail shows Ms Smart out door knocking when a woman answers who says she is registered to vote in Liverpool.

The Lib Dem candidate responded with a smile: 'Ah, understood – so you've just been nicking stuff while you're here." READ MORE: Legendary Stockport pub dating back hundreds of years reopens following major transformation The remarks provoked a strong reaction from Paul Athans, the Conservative candidate for Hazel Grove who was born in Liverpool.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it was evidence of the Lib Dems leading a "a nasty, negative, and misleading" election campaign.

He said: "This supposed 'joke' reinforces derogatory stereotypes and is completely unacceptable. "This is not the first time Ms Smart has attacked my birthplace, Liverpool, which is utterly hypocritical given she was a Londoner. “I live in Marple in the centre of Hazel Grove constituency so the fact that she has the audacity to call me an 'insult' for not being born here, when she wasn't either, is disgraceful. "I hope the voters of Hazel Grove will see this incident as just the tip of the iceberg that has been a nasty, negative, and misleading Lib Dem campaign here in Hazel Grove.” "Hazel Grove needs an MP that will respect everyone, no matter where in the world they were born”.