Joe is proud to have been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Piccadilly Ward.

Full statement

He joined the party in 2017 after Jeremy Corbyn supported Theresa May in whipping the vote to enact Article 50 without a clearly defined strategy in place, a process which has been disastrous.

"For years I've had friends and family tell me that I should enter politics and that `I'd vote for you`, but I'd always dismissed that encouragement because I don't want to be in the public eye and I'd assumed that the people in charge nationally and locally ultimately had more experience and sense even if their public image suggested otherwise. Now though it's clear that, despite some notable exceptions, that just isn't the case.

"My job as an IT systems administrator requires me to juggle resolving problems that have come up, and making structural changes to systems where there is an underlying root cause to repeat issues, all whilst keeping in mind that `everything is connected` and that a change in one place might trigger something problematic somewhere else. I also have to translate requests for things people say that they want in to something that's actually deliverable, often by trying to rephrase the request in to finding out what it is that they're trying to achieve and then using my expertise and the expertise of other people who know better than me to design, test and implement a system that works. It's exactly the sort of approach that I think is needed in politics.

"I want to bring fresh thinking to a council dominated by a Labour party quick to close ranks in the face of any criticism and dismissive of any suggestion that this city could be run better. I want to make sure that the voices of the people who live in the city centre and who run small businesses here are heard and taken seriously, instead of only listening to property developers at industry junkets over drinks in Cannes. I want to see the city deliver 20% affordable housing in every development, and not celebrate 5% in one tower after years of delivering nothing as a success. I want to stand with Greater Manchester Housing Action and Liberty in opposing the Public Space Protection Order for part of the ward; we need to do something but granting sweeping powers that are ripe for misuse is not the way, and the current boundary would just shift the focus of the problems from Piccadilly Gardens and Chinatown in to Angel Meadow.

"Most of all though, I want to prove to those councillors who believe that bullying and intimidation is acceptable that there's a better way to get things done. I give everyone my word that I'll do everything that I can to work constructively with the other ward councillors and anyone in the Labour group to advance policies that are good for Piccadilly and for Manchester as a whole, but that I won't be afraid to stand up and offer constructive criticism of plans that could be improved or to solidly oppose anything that I think is wrong.

"I live in the city centre and so I've got skin in the game. This isn't a stepping stone for me on my career path to Westminster, I just want to do my part to make the city I've adopted as my home a better place for all of us. I hope that you'll give me your vote on 2nd May."