A husband and wife are facing one of the biggest tests of their marriage as they prepare to go head-to-head as Epsom council candidates for different parties on May 7.

Visitors to the "battling Barkers’" household in Epsom could well be in for an ear-bashing before polling day, according to Trevor Barker, 73.

Both he and his wife Yvonne Barker, 59, are standing in the Epsom and Ewell borough council elections - for opposing parties.

Mr Barker, who once worked at the Sun and News of the World newspapers, is standing in Town ward for the Liberal Democrats, while his wife - who uses her professional name of McCabe - is standing in Woodcote for Labour.

They have been married for 13 years.

He said: "My wife has these silly socialistic ideas, she’s also a lawyer, whilst I, on the other hand, am a thoroughly nice, intelligent retired healthcare association director and woolly Liberal Democrat."

"Seriously, both Yvonne and I want the best for the people of our constituency and we are just coming at it from different directions," he added.

"We both want retention of Epsom and St Helier hospitals, not just for five years but forever.

"A super new hospital in Sutton may be good for the residents of Sutton but have you tried to travel by public transport to Sutton recently?"

With different political philosophies, as well as some areas of overlap on local issues, will the couple be speaking to each over the next few weeks?

"Not really," said Mrs Barker.

"There’s far too much to be done on the doorstep, so we’ll be keeping out of each other’s way."