THE Liberal Democrats' support of High Speed 2 has prompted one of the party's candidates for the May council elections to quit.

Sebastian Berry also said Amersham and Chesham's Tory MP Cheryl Gillan should resign from her Government post as Welsh Secretary.

Mr Berry said the village is on the 'front line' of the battle to stop the multi-billion pound scheme.

In October Mr Berry, standing as a Lib Dem candidate, lost the Great Missenden by-election for Chiltern District Council by just 25 votes.

Nationally, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats will be making the case for the preferred route through Buckinghamshire countryside.

Mr Berry said: “Given the sheer enormity of the impact of HS2 on the village and the intense anti-HS2 campaigning that lies ahead, that makes it impossible for me to stand as an official Liberal Democrat candidate in May or to remain as a party member.”

He has not decided whether to stand an Independent at the upcoming elections.

Mr Berry, who remains Chairman of Great Missenden Village Association, said:“Great Missenden is on the frontline in this fight which means that my decision to resign from the Liberal Democrats is a very personal one.”

He called for Welsh Secretary Cherly Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amerhsam to “resign from the Cabinet with immediate effect”, having pledged to defeat the project at the General Election.

“As a Cabinet member bound by collective Ministerial responsibility, Cheryl Gillan now shares responsibility for the Government's choice of preferred route...for the decision to push ahead with this unwanted white elephant,” Mr Berry said.

Residents were distraught on the day Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond confirmed their “very worst nightmares”, that the scheme would go ahead, Mr Berry said.

In 25 years of campaigning it was the first a voter had been “in tears about a policy issue,” he said.

The campaign co-ordinator for Great Missenden Stop HS2 said he was resigning despite the anti HS2 stance of Chiltern Liberal Democrats.

Mrs Gillan's Conservative agent Philip Dumville said calls for her resignation were the “same tired old record” from the Lib Dems.

“All they seem to do is use it as an excuse to attack her,” he said.

“He's relinquishing any influence on the Liberal Democrat part of the Coalition.

"He'd have been much better off staying inside his party and working hard to make them change their minds.”

He said Mrs Gillan was “absolutely” in a stronger position to oppose HS2 from a cabinet position because it gives her greater influence and privileges within the Government.

“Her seniority is of great value to her constituents,” he added.

Meanwhile, an internet petition has been launched, with nearly 27,000 signatures so far, urging the Government to scrap the scheme, which campaigners estimated will exceed £25bn.

To sign up visit link below.