To stand for parliament as a Liberal Democrat, there are four stages you need to go through

Stage 1 - Approval
Stage 2 - Selection
Stage 3 - Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
Stage 4 - Nomination and the election campaign

You are eligible to join the Parliamentary Candidates Association in any of these stages, and we would recommend you to do this, giving you access to all the information on this site, to special training sessions and our candidates magazine.

Any Liberal Democrat member can seek approval as a parliamentary candidate. As each of the parliaments is different, Westminster, European, Scottish, Welsh Assembly, approval for one parliament does not automatically mean approval for another.

To begin the process, contact the Candidates Office at candidates.office@libdems.org.uk or by calling 020 7227 1204, and request a Candidates Application Pack.

You will need to fill in an application form, and give names of Liberal Democrat references.

The next stage is a Development Day, where you will be put through your paces in a variety of testing interviews, role-plays, presentations and written exercises.

After your development day, you will either be approved immediately, or will be given a programme of development to undertake. In some cases candidates are recommended not to proceed towards parliamentary approval during the current electoral cycle.