The Green Party has announced it is fielding a parliamentary candidate for Romsey & Southampton North for the first time.

Sherfield English resident Ian Callaghan will be launching his campaign in Romsey town centre tomorrow (Saturday) with a cycling tour of the town.

Supporters, wearing green, will gather at Palmerston’s statue at 11am for a gentle cycle tour of the town centre.

Mr Callagahan commented: “Whilst Palmerston could not join the Green Party 150 years ago, he was a progressive reformer, for example passing legislation to limit child labour, so it’s a great place to start the tour”. The 57-year-old father of four has been a member of the Green Party for 12 years and is a seasoned environmental campaigner, he was chairman of the London Cycling Campaign during the early 2000s.

Born and brought up in Africa, Mr Callaghan works in international development and has raised many milions to support people in the Third World.

Locally, he is a churchwarden in Wellow.

The Green Party has seen its membership treble in the last year in what the party is labelling the “Green Surge”. It now has more tha 55,000 members, making it bigger than both the Lib Dems and UKIP.