In five weeks, Paul Hodgkinson is hoping to do the almost unthinkable and unseat Geoffrey Clifton-Brown as MP for the Cotswolds. The Liberal Democrat told Jack Pitts why he believes he has a genuine chance of victory.


“THE conservatives care too much about the economy, Labour want to spend too much. The Lib Dems are the perfect balance in between.”


Mr Hodgkinson hopes voters in the Cotswolds will agree come May 7.


Born in Weymouth, he has been a Cotswold resident for 26 years and served on the district council for eight years and Gloucestershire County Council for seven, in two separate stints.


Mr Hodgkinson originally wanted to be a teacher, using his French degree from Reading University, but instead found his way into Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society and now runs his own business coaching company.


“Owning a coaching company and being a councillor is great,” he said. “It allows me to work in all different sectors and with all types of people.”


In the 2011 district council election, Mr Hodgkinson, as leader of the Lib Dem group, took seven new seats – more than doubling their tally.


And he believes he can do the same in the general election, overturning the 23 per cent Conservative majority that Mr Clifton-Brown secured in 2010.


He said: “I truly believe we can win, the reason being that when I was fighting for my Gloucestershire County Council seat, everyone told me it couldn’t be done.


“But, with help from other Lib Dems, we overturned the huge majority, and turned one of the safest Conservative wards Lib Dem.”


As a councillor, Mr Hodgkinson believes he has a reputation of “getting things done”.


He said: “If I had to pick my best achievement, it would be bringing in plastic recycling, which I had to campaign really hard for.


"For years, a number of people kept saying ‘it can’t be done, we can’t afford it’, but we managed it.”


If elected, Mr Hodgkinson would aim to enhance infrastructure, making phone signal and transport services better, improve health services, such as making ambulance response times better, and protect the countryside.


“We live in a very unique and special area and people come here for that reason.


"In the past few years it seems that there has been a bit of a free for all in the Cotswolds in terms of development.


"I’d like to look harder at that – there’s so much that a really energetic Member of Parliament could do for this area.


“We also want to cut tax for lower and middle income earners – the wealthy need to share the burden.”


Mr Hodgkinson says that as a business man he is pro-Europe, but would support an in-out referendum if his constituents did.


“I want to stay in Europe because it is better for our economy, but I’m also in favour of giving people a say.”


Tuition fees, Mr Hodgkinson believes, should stay at the level they are, but should “definitely not go up”.


“When I went to university, only five percent of country went and the state could afford it,” he said.


"Now it’s up around 50 percent and it’s just not possible to pay for everyone.”


He also believes strongly in the NHS, which he thinks should be free at the point of service.


If Mr Hodgkinson does not win, it will not be the end of him as a politician, as he will continue to be a councillor.