A DEVON man has been chosen to be the Liberal Democrat standard bearer for West Devon and Torridge at the next general election. Adam Symons, 34, was selected by Liberal Democrats at meetings on Saturday in Torrington and the Alexander Centre in Tavistock. He says he is keen to help the area ?shake off the shackles of low wages and high house prices?. He said, ?I am thrilled to have been selected to represent the area. The Torridge and West Devon constituency has been cut adrift by successive Governments since 1980. ?We have not had the support that rural regions in Wales and Scotland have had, and the tax cuts since the 1980s have been aimed at more affluent areas. ?Our constituency has some of the lowest wages in the country. We need tax thresholds to rise so that low earners keep much more of their money. ?We need and deserve better rural services such as doctors? and dentists? surgeries, post offices and local affordable housing. Our local rural economy is fragile and has been neglected for far too long?. Mr Symons, who recently married, is the son of a farmer, and was born and bred at Higher Clovelly, near Bideford. He went to school in Bideford and Barnstaple, and in the evenings, weekends and holidays worked on the farm. He is an environmental scientist. He is a district councillor for Hartland and Bradworthy, sitting on the affordable housing working group, and is a governor of North Devon College. A keen sportsman, he has played for Bideford Rugby Club, North Devon Hockey Club, Bideford Cricket Club, Hartland Cricket Club, and Woolsery Football Club. He studied Human Sciences at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Environmental Sciences at Nottingham University. His career as an environmental scientist has taken him across the country, and as a freelance consultant he recently worked in Siberia, helping the city of Omsk to develop a zero waste strategy. He is a chartered waste manager. Noel Thompson, chair of the constituency Liberal Democrat executive, said: ?Adam impressed our members ? he is both a very good listener and a convincing speaker and advocate of humane Liberal Democrat principles. ?He understands the anxieties and concerns of local people and the uncertainties for the future which worry them. ?We know he will campaign hard for us, and will be committed to making sure we never again suffer the neglect the other main parties have wrought upon our area.? West Devon and Torridge is held for the Conservatives by Geoffrey Cox. The seat has been redrawn and will be fought under new boundaries at the next election.