A “proud Liberal Democrat” candidate, who was due to stand against Buckingham MP John Bercow for the general election in June, has stepped down, prompting an outcry from the party’s supporters.

Sarah Lowes took to Twitter at the weekend to announce she would be standing against the Speaker, who has to remain politically neutral in Parliament and is not able to vote on matters, except to cast a tie-breaking vote.

She said: “Convention disenfranchises voters. We supported it before whilst seeking reform but now we want to offer a genuine alternative to Buckingham.”

Conventionally, none of the main parties stand against the speaker in a General Election.

Ms Lowes, who is a member of Bucks Lib Dems, said she would be standing “regardless” of whether or not Mr Bercow decided to resign as a Speaker.

Her announcement was met with an outpouring of praise on social media, with the constituency’s residents vowing to support Ms Lowes.

David O’Hanlon said: “I support change so Speaker stops having a constituency. I live in Buckingham and I am unhappy to be disenfranchised. Change needed,” while Rebecca Halifax commented: “Fantastic that Bucks’ voters get option to cast a meaningful vote this time. Speaker only on the ballot paper is not proper voter choice.”

However it was reported this morning that Ms Lowes had decided to step down, with a post on a Facebook page attributed to her saying: “I am grateful to the local party in Buckingham for their confidence in selecting me to represent them. 

“After due consideration, I have decided to stand down in accordance with the convention that the main political parties do not oppose the Speaker. 

“This has not been an easy decision, but I am grateful to the party for their support.”

The news was slammed by the party’s supporters, with Phil Harriss, who lives in Brill, saying the phrase “establishment stitch-up”, mentioned by another supporter, was a “very good” description of the situation.

He said: “The electorate of Buckingham have been left to hang.

“We have had no-one in the Commons who can vote since 2009. We have got no voice in Parliament yet again.

“People want an MP to represent them in Parliament and if John Bercow wins again that won’t happen – again.

“He says he has channels of communication with other ministers but that doesn’t mean anything if he can’t vote.

“We want to have a proper voice in Parliament.

“It is like being in a totalitarian state. People are getting really fed up of it.”

Mr Harriss launched an online campaign in 2015 to demand a by-election if John Bercow was elected MP again.

The petition has since garnered more than 3,000 signatures, with people commenting: “Simply anti-democratic,” “Give Buckingham a voice,” and “Because the people of Buckinghamshire should be allowed a vote…they have been disenfranchised for the past 10 years. This is a farcical and totally unfair situation.”

A statement from the Liberal Democrats headquarters said: “We will not contest the Buckingham seat in accordance with the convention that the main parties do not oppose the Speaker.”

The constituency includes Princes Risborough.

To see the petition, go to https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/give-us-a-voice-not-a-speaker.