Labour first off the mark for the 2014 Borough Elections

READING & DISTRICT LABOUR PARTY MEDIA RELEASE

14 July 2013

Labour first off the mark for the 2014 Borough Elections!

Reading & District Labour Party has taken advantage of there being no Borough Elections this year to select its full slate of candidates for the Borough Council Elections next year earlier than usual. The elections are scheduled for 22 May 2014.

Labour Leader Jo Lovelock says it’s a strong and well-balanced team, with eight out of the fifteen seats being contested by women, and with candidates from a wide age-range and from different communities.
Five sitting Labour Councillors, including the current Mayor and two Lead Councillors - Bet Tickner (Abbey), Sarah Hacker (Battle), Marian Livingston (Minster), John Ennis (Southcote) and Rachel Eden (Whitley) – will all be standing.
The only sitting Councillor stepping down is Peter Jones (Norcot), who has represented the ward on the County and Borough Councils since 1989. Standing in his place will be Debs Absolom, the Party’s Vice Chair (West) who runs a gardening business jointly with her husband David. David Absolom will be trying to win the third Redlands seat, currently held by former LibDem leader Daisy Benson, for Labour.
Labour’s candidate to take the third seat in Katesgrove from the LibDems is 24-year-old Sophia James, who has previously represented students nationally and is now a local organiser with Unison.
Economics teacher Ashley Pearce, a life-long Reading resident and Royals supporter, will be seeking to win the third seat in Church Ward, currently held by Tory Leader Tim Harris.
Labour’s candidate in Kentwood, which Daya Pal Singh won last year, is electronics engineer Glenn Dennis, who moved to Reading from London with his family in 2004 and lives in the ward. He has experience as a member of Holybrook Parish Council.
Standing in Caversham, which Richard Davies won last year, is community campaigner Rachael Chrisp, who has a strong record particularly on women’s issues. She works for a national charity and was recently elected Labour’s Vice Chair (East).
Seeking to regain Park Ward for Labour is Matthew Lawrence, who was born and grew up in Reading and is a senior manager in local government with a great deal of experience working with communities.
Taxi driver and West Reading resident Haji Banaras, who is chair of the South Street Mosque, is standing again for Labour in Tilehurst.
Former Councillor Richard Stainthorp, who is shortly to retire as a teacher, chairs the Credit Union and is a member of the town’s Cultural Partnership, is Labour’s candidate in Thames.
Natalie Platts, who lives in Emmer Green, is standing for Labour in Peppard. She worked in the NHS for a number of years and is currently working for Unison across the Thames Valley.
Party Chair Chris Waring adds “This selection of candidates shows how men and women from all over town, from different communities and with different life experience, have turned to Labour as the party they know will stand up for Reading and fight to build a better life for Reading people. With the Tories offering nothing but austerity, the need for a strong Labour Council has never been greater.”