Matthew’s aiming to raise voice for youth
THE YOUNGEST election candidate is hoping to shake things up in Macclesfield’s local government.
Aged 19, student Matthew Sharrocks is the youngest person in Macclesfield standing in the upcoming elections.
He’s standing as a Labour candidate in the Bollington ward for Cheshire East council and in the Hurdsfield ward for the new Macclesfield Town Council. Matthew, who is studying a degree in sociology at Staffordshire University, has been involved with the Labour party since he turned 19 last year, and soon became the Cheshire representative for the party in the North West.
Matthew, a former Tytherington High School pupil, said: “Lot’s of young people I speak to are worried about finances and are anxious what could happen to them in the election.
“The decisions made by government affect us all no matter what age you are. Many councillors don’t understand what it’s like to be a 19 year old in Macclesfield under this government.”
Matthew lives with mum Karen Sharrocks, stepdad Martin Roper and sister Erin, 17, on Bond Street, Macclesfield.
In the Bollington ward, where two councillors will be elected, Matthew is standing against Liberal Democrats Andrew Haldane and Shirley Sockett, Conservatives Bill Livesley and Jonathan Weston and James Nichols and Amanda Stott from Bollington First. He’s up against Brian Doherty from the Green Party and Conservative Bernadette McKenna in the Hurdsfield ward for the new Macclesfield Town Council.