General Election 2019 Parties prepare as we go back to ballot box
UKIP has announced it will not field a candidate in Southport in this December’s General Election.
Instead, it wishes to consolidate the Brexit vote in Parliament by urging local residents to vote for Southport’s current MP Damien Moore.
Terry Durrance, who stood for Ukip at the last election, urged those who might consider voting for the Brexit Party, or any other party, to follow Ukip’s lead.
He said: “It it important not to split the leave vote. The surest way of Southport sending a Brexit MP to Westminster after the next General Election is to vote for our current sitting MP, Damien Moore.
“It is important for all those who feel that our country should be released from the suffocation of the European Union that Southport should return a Member of Parliament to Westminster who firmly believes in British self governance and is determined to uphold the democratic majority decision.”
He added: “We are living in unusual times and Ukip is prepared to put country before party.”
THE CAMPAIGN to become the MP for Southport is under way, after MPs voted to hold a General Election on December 12.
Two years ago, Conservative Damien Moore won the seat in a hardfought three-way contest with both Labour and the Liberal Democrats confident that they can make gains this year.
It was so close that the battle for Southport is sure to invite national interest again this year.
Mr Moore will seek to hold his seat while Liz Savage (Labour), John Wright (Liberal Democrats) and Darcy IvesonBerkeley (Brexit Party) will be among his challengers.
Mr said: “Despite Labour’s attempts at further delay, Parliament has voted to support the Prime Minister’s proposal to have a general election on December 12 – to end the Brexit deadlock so we can move on as a country and get Britain back on the road to a brighter future.
“After three years of the same debate on Brexit and endless frustration, I believe the British people now want to see Brexit delivered, and the EU referendum result respected, so we can move on to addressing the domestic issues facing our country.
“It has been an honour
Moore to serve this fantastic seaside town since 2017 and we have achieved so much in such a short space of time.
“I’m looking forward to getting out on the campaign trail, making the case to local residents that Southport is better served by a local Conservative MP and government.”
Ms Savage said she was hopeful of winning the seat for Labour for the first time after finishing second in the 2017 contest.
She said: “From what we repeatedly hear on the doorstep, the people of Southport are very tired of the Tory/Lib Dem treadmill of MPs that has had the town going nowhere for years. Since 2010 they’ve done little but harm Southport by voting for cuts after cuts.
“Labour is the clear vote to oust the Tories. We are a strong second now as the Lib Dem vote here has been declining all this decade in general elections.
“We’ve also just taken five council seats here in a year which were Lib Dem last time they were contested.
“When you look at how even the Government’s own mild forecast for up to 2034 shows how Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal will leave our economic growth down 6.7% and people on average £2,250 a year worse off – it’s pretty clear he must be stopped, and Southport’s Tory MP is an ardent Boris backer.
“They want to simply ignore remainers, the Lib Dem revokers want to simply ignore leavers. Neither bodes well for the future of our country and trying to bring it back together afterwards.
“I believe we need to negotiate a deal that enshrines workers rights and protects our NHS and then we put that back to the people to decide, so they finally have a truly informed choice on the actual options.”
Lib Dem candidate John Wright has declared that he and his team are “raring to go” and “relishing the challenge” in their bid to win back the seat they lost to the Conservatives in 2017.
Addressing party campaigners at the start of the campaign, he said: “I’ve been part of the Southport Lib Dem team since 2010, so it’s a real honour for me now to be the party’s candidate, and to try to follow in the footsteps of great former Lib Dem MPs for the town like Ronnie Fearn and John Pugh.”
He added: “The Lib Dems are in great shape, locally and nationally. In Southport we’ve recruited dozens of new members and activists since the 2016 referendum, and we’ve beaten the Conservatives and Labour this year in both the local and European elections in the town.”
Mr Wright said his campaign would focus on key national issues such as funding the NHS, schools and police, and tackling the climate emergency; and, of course, Brexit.
“But local issues are very important too,” he said.
He concluded by saying that Southport needs an MP “in the Liberal tradition”.
Darcy Iveson-Berkeley was named as a prospective parliamentary candidate for the Brexit Party in Southport last month.
A lifelong local resident, he said: “As a Sandgrounder, I feel I know exactly what Southport needs and being local means I am passionate about the future of our great town and preserving its Victorian heritage.
“At 19 I never envisaged I would be running for public office, but under the current circumstances I feel compelled to do something, as our proud history of democracy is at risk.
“I have become so disillusioned with the establishment, as Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have neglected local issues and no longer represent the people of Southport.
“The Brexit Party has given us Brexiteers a ray of hope.”