A NORTH Yorkshire General Election candidate has hit back at “shameful” claims by a rival website that he encouraged people to vote against him.

Tom Holvey, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Selby and Ainsty, was quoted on a Conservative-supporting site as saying voters should choose the Tories rather than him if they wanted to harm Labour’s chances on May 6.

The excerpts from email correspondence between Mr Holvey and a voter in the constituency were published on Conservativehome under the headline “Meet the honest Lib Dem candidate who explicitly advises voting Conservative if you want Labour out of Government”.

One of the quotes attributed to him said: “If all you want is Labour out, then you should vote Tory for that to happen.”

But Mr Holvey has accused his opponents of “dirty tricks” and taking his discussion with the resident out of context.

He said: “I was sad to see the Conservatives stooping so low as to misrepresent my comments in an email I wrote in good faith to a local resident.

“The email as a whole made it clear that anybody who wants to see real change at the election must vote Liberal Democrat. They have chosen not to repeat that excerpt and instead use a quote without context to imply I am backing them.

“This is exactly the kind of shameful, dirty campaign tactics which give politics a bad name. To help clarify matters for the Conservatives and anybody who has been misled by them, I am voting Liberal Democrat to see real change in our county and I urge voters in Selby and Ainsty, as well as in other constituencies, to do so as well.”

Although the old Selby seat was held by Labour’s John Grogan, who has stood down as an MP at this election, the redrawn boundaries are forecast to make the Selby and Ainsty seat Conservative territory.