Portsmouth councillor is picked as the Fareham Lib Dem parliamentary spokesman

Cllr Winnington, who represents Eastney and Craneswater, was the Lib Dems’ candidate for Fareham in the 2015 general election.

Fareham Lib Dem chairman Shaun Cunningham said: ‘Matt did a terrific job for us in the general election campaign and impressed everyone who heard him in the various hustings.

‘He was the unanimous choice of our local executive committee to speak for us on national issues.’

Cllr Winnington, who has family connections to Fareham, said: ‘I look forward to working with the whole Fareham team over the next few years and having lots of successes along the way.

‘There’s going to be a lot of opportunities for us and we need to meet them head on.’