Labour has selected local teacher and councillor Karen Shore as its candidate to stand in the looming by-election in Runcorn and Helsby.
Earlier this week, the local MP Mike Amesbury announced he would stand down at the earliest opportunity following his conviction for assault.
Amesbury was previously a shadow Labour minister but was expelled by the party over attacking a man in his constituency.
Keir Starmer said: “Karen Shore will be a champion for the people of Runcorn and Helsby.
“She’s local and her experience as a teacher and serving the community as a councillor will give people a strong voice in the House of Commons.
“That’s what people in Runcorn and Helsby deserve in their Member of Parliament.”
“I look forward to her working hard with ministers if she is elected to deliver the local change that the area and our country deserve.”
Shore is also deputy Leader for Cheshire West and Chester Council.
The by-election, the first of Starmer’s premiership, is a major political test for the new Labour government.
Amesbury was re-elected with an almost 15,000 majority at the last election, with Reform finishing second with just 7,662 votes in total.
However, since then, Nigel Farage’s party has surged in the polls, with a recent Britain Predicts poll suggesting there’s less than 1,000 votes between the two parties.
The selection process was not without controversy either. The window for applications was opened and closed over the course of last weekend.
Disability campaigner Emily Brothers, who grew up in the nearby Ellesmere Port area and is a councillor on the Isle of Wight, said she had been weighing up throwing her hat in the ring, but discovered too late that the window had already closed.
She said the process “wasn’t transparent”, adding that such a “snap selection process” meant there wasn’t “equality of opportunity”, particularly for disabled people who may need longer to apply due to access issues or support needs.
A longlist of applicants was selected on Monday, with the shortlist decided on Wednesday. On Thursday evening a hustings was held between the shortlisted candidates.
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