Katie Mansfield with Councillor Tom Simon, the leader of the opposition in Camden

IT could be another four years before the next general election but the Liberal Democrats have already installed a new candidate to take on Labour MP Tulip Siddiq.

Katie Mansfield said this week that the party saw the Hampstead and Highgate constituency as an “opportunity” and that it was clear she was “not a paper candidate” given how long she was committed to work and wait for polling day.

She is currently a councillor in Richmond in west London, but said she was cutting down the hours in her day job in marketing to make sure she would be on the scene and campaigning for residents here.

“We see this area as liberal with a small ‘l’ and we don’t think it’s beyond us,” she said, adding the issues facing residents where she served as a councillor and where she is standing for Parliament were “very, very similar”.

Ms Siddiq has been the area’s MP for ten years but has had a rough spell since a coup against her aunt, Sheikh Hasina – the leader of Bangladesh whose controversial 15-year rule ended with an uprising last August.

She has denied accusations by the incoming government of gaining from the ousted leader’s infrastructure deals and has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a parliamentary watchdog over how homes in London were bought.

Ms Mansfield said that the Lib Dems were not expecting an imminent by-election, but added that they “would be mad if we didn’t get ourselves ready”.

She added: “Clearly, she has had a lot of issues and that’s a legal process that needs to be gone through. We are letting it take its course and she is absolutely entitled to a fair solution to any of the accusations ­– that’s her business.”

A look at last year’s scorecard in Hampstead and Highgate saw Ms Siddiq increase her share of the vote and the Liberal Democrats only finished in fourth place, 17,251 votes behind.

It was a result which paled in comparison to a near miss in 2010 and the party’s high-water mark council election successes in 2006.

But the whirlwind, chaotic nature of national politics right now and Labour’s underwhelming ratings after a year back in government has left activists thinking the weather is changing again.

Ms Mansfield said that she was concerned about the rise of Reform and right-wing thinking.

She accused both Labour and the Tories of “pandering” to Nigel Farage’s party as the polls tilt, “I think we can now be the antidote to Reform,” she said.

“The two main political parties pander too much to the rhetoric and to me history tells us it’s a slippery slope. Some of the language Labour has been using, I’ve felt uncomfortable with ­– the ‘one in, one out’ rhetoric. We need to stand up to this.”

She said that the rise of Reform could be traced back to the Brexit referendum and the aftermath, during which the Lib Dems always remained clear that they wanted to stay in the EU.

“There’s not much value in being right about the vote, if people are suffering as a result of Brexit,” she said.

“And they are. I do think we should be moving closer to Europe and aiming to be in the single market.

“Obviously, it’s not something that happens in the short term, but it’s not just about trade agreements, it’s about shared values and being part of one cohesive society across Europe which can stand up to people like Donald Trump together.”

Ms Mansfield said the Tory party was unrecognisable to David Cameron’s ranks who the Lib Dems made a coalition pact to govern with in 2010.

Such a deal would not happen now, she said, but added: “I still think it was the right thing to do for the country at the time.

“It wouldn’t be the right thing to do for the country now. The Tories have swung so far to the right. The coalition damaged us but we did manage to get a few things through. When you’re the junior partner, you don’t get everything you want.”

She was critical of Labour’s decision to cut the winter fuel allowance and welfare benefits.

While Ms Mansfield said the rich should not be penalised unfairly, she added: “There is money in this country and people feel it’s unfair ­– it’s just about people contributing.”

She said her party had proposed specific taxes to create a more level playing field, citing a manifesto pledge at last year’s general election to make big social media companies pay more in order to fund better mental health services in schools.

Other issues coming up on the doorstep that needed tackling, she said, included people’s concerns about crime and whether there was enough police in neighbourhoods, as well as revitalising high streets and getting the right deal for the O2 Centre site.

Ms Mansfield, a volunteer aid worker during the Rwanda genocide after she came out of university, said: “I joined the Lib Dems in 2015 as Vince Cable lost his seat [Twickenham] and I thought that was unfair and then I got involved more at the time of Brexit.

“I really get worried about blaming other people for all our ills. I felt if you don’t stand up and do something, all you are left with is shouting at the television.”

The latest date the next general election can be called is August 2029.