News / Politics
South Glos council leader’s MP bid
The leader of South Gloucestershire Council has been announced as the Liberal Democrats’ parliamentary candidate for Thornbury & Yate.
Just two months after taking up her new role in charge of the local authority, Claire Young is hoping to win back the seat that the party held before losing it to current Conservative incumbent Luke Hall in 2015.
It will be Young’s third attempt to become the constituency’s MP after finishing second behind Hall at both the 2017 and 2019 general elections.
is needed now More than ever
The Lib Dems have described Thornbury & Yate as “winnable” and have been buoyed by success at May’s local elections where the Tories lost overall control of South Gloucestershire Council, which is now run by a Lib Dem/Labour coalition.
They say they received 60 per cent of the vote across the wards in the constituency and topped the poll in every one within the new boundaries for the parliamentary seat.
It also comes after the party’s recent dramatic by-election victory in Somerton & Frome, where they ousted the Conservatives with a huge 29-point swing.
The result overturned the Tories’ majority of 19,213 and the Lib Dems now lead by 11,008 votes.
They are now targeting Hall’s Thornbury & Yate seat at the general election and say an 11.8 per cent swing would secure victory.
Young, a South Gloucestershire councillor since 2007 who lives with her family in Coalpit Heath, said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to stand at the next election and win this seat for the Liberal Democrats.
“I know local people are really fed up with this Government’s mishandling of the economy and the NHS and want a change.
“Only the Liberal Democrats can beat the Conservatives here. In this seat Labour got just four per cent of the vote in the local elections.
“Living locally and running the council I know just what is needed in the area. It’s time for an MP who speaks up and delivers.”
Young is a Cambridge maths graduate who spent a decade working in the software industry, beginning her career with IBM which included stints in Silicon Valley. She later worked for local high-tech start-up businesses.
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