PARLIAMENTARY hopeful Layla Moran has scorned her own party’s president over claims Oxfordshire should become a nuclear waste dumping ground.

Tim Farron, president of the Liberal Democrats, highlighted the county as an example of a location more appropriate for dumping the waste than Cumbria, where he is an MP.

He said areas with high amounts of clay in the ground, such as Oxfordshire and the home counties, would be more appropriate.

But Miss Moran, who will fight Tory Nicola Blackwood for the marginal Oxford West and Abingdon seat in 2015, said he was “premature”.

She said: “As a scientist I never say never, but until a rigorous scientific assessment is carried out and we can guarantee the safety of residents and crops, I feel that Tim Farron is premature to suggest the waste be moved here or indeed anywhere this populated.

“I think it’s very convenient for Tim to want to put it off to somewhere else, but we can’t say things like that without having a proper review and asking local people if they want it.”