Lib Dem MP insists ‘we welcome all faiths’ after candidate blocked from standing due to Christian beliefs

A Liberal Democrat MP has insisted her party “welcomes all faiths” after a former candidate won a legal challenge against the party over being prevented from standing because of his Christian beliefs.

Speaking to GB News, Lisa Smart attempted to avoid being drawn into the matter by Camilla Tominey.

David Campanale was blocked from sitting as a Lib Dem candidate for Sutton and Cheam in the 2024 General Election over objections to abortion and assisted suicide policies.

The party accepted they had broken equality law and will now pay damages to Mr Campanale and legal costs, estimated at around £250,000.

Camilla probed: “Can we talk about David Campanelli, who has just won a four-year battle against the Liberal Democrats, whom he claimed had discriminated against him?

“He was the candidate in Sutton and Cheam, and then he was dumped because, shock, horror, he had Christian views. He was anti-abortion and indeed anti-assisted suicide.

“Do you now accept that he's won his case that there was nothing either liberal or Democratic about the party moving against this Christian?”

“My understanding is that that's an ongoing legal case. And so you wouldn't expect me to say anything about that,” Ms Smart cautioned.

“The point about the place of Christians and Christianity in the Liberal Democrats, though, is one I very much take on.

“We very strongly welcome people of all faiths, including Christianity,” she assured.

However, Camilla was not satisfied.

“You've admitted religious discrimination against David Campanelli, so in his case, you weren't tolerant at all,” the GB News host shot back.

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“Would you have a problem with a muslim candidate who was similarly anti-abortion and anti-assisted dying?”

“Rightly, those issues are matters of conscience, and so we don't whip on any of those issues,” the Lib Dem MP responded.

“I was in the chamber when we talked about some of the measures to decriminalise abortion in the House of Commons as part of the Crime and Policing Bill coming forward, and I had Liberal Democrat colleagues speaking out on both sides of that discussion.

“I think rightly they are matters of conscience, not things we should whip on,” she reiterated.

“We shouldn't be discriminating against any part of our society, particularly within political parties, for religious views they hold,” the Hazel Grove MP declared.

Speaking to GB News, blocked candidate David Campanale said Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey had “overseen disgraceful discrimination in his own party and on his own doorstep”.

“His would-be party of lawmakers have been unmasked as arrogant lawbreakers,” he slammed.