RETIRED economics lecturer Wilf Davison is hoping the figures will add up in his favour in the forthcoming General Election.

For the Prestwich councillor is contesting the Bury North seat for the Liberal Democrats.

Coun Davison (66) has stood for Parliament on numerous occasions, but never in Bury, until the party selected him at a well-attended meeting of Bury North members at St Johns Hall, in Parkinson Street.

Married to Maureen, Coun Davison has four daughters and a son, plus six grandchildren.

He moved to Prestwich in 1978 and has lived in the same house in Branksome Avenue ever since.

A former lecturer in economics, Coun Davison worked his way up to becoming a senior manager at Mancat (Manchester College of Arts and Technology) for business and professional studies.

He was elected to Bury Council in 1996, but previously he stood for Parliament in Doncaster and Liverpool, the last time being in 1979.

He said: We have a lot of excellent policies and I am very keen on taxation changes. The council tax is regressive and inflexible and I think it would be a fairer system to introduce a local income tax. It would be collected through the Inland Revenue in addition to the existing tax system and fairer in the way it was levied, because it would be based on the ability to pay.

Coun Davison, who is currently Deputy Mayor of Bury, is also keen on increasing the state pension for over-75s and introducing free personal care for the elderly.

He said: Currently, if a person goes into a care home, they have to sell their home and assets to pay for it, then when the money runs out it becomes free. I think it should be free from the start. It works well in Scotland so why not here?