Hyndburn Labour election candidate hits back at claims

Blackpool councillor Sarah Smith was announced as the candidate vying to represent the constituency in parliament on May 29, and says the borough is 'incredibly special' to her.

The mum-of-one came under fire from Conservative candidate Sara Britcliffe, who aims to defend the seat she won in 2019, who said she was ‘shocked’ and Cllr Smith had been ‘parachuted in’.

Conservative councillor Josh Blayne Adams echoed the criticism in a statement, where he suggested voters had a choice between someone ‘from Blackpool’ or somebody who was Hyndburn ‘born and raised’.

Speaking in her first interview since becoming a candidate, Cllr Smith said: "My family have roots here [Hyndburn] going back many generations.

"My husband was born in Rishton and his father was a vicar there for over 18 years; he was also the chairman of St Christopher’s school and helped bring in sixth form provision there.

Sarah Smith at last weekend's Accrington Food Festival (Image: Newsquest)

“Family on the other side have also been born and died in Ossy [Oswaldtwistle], and so for us it’s coming back home.

“It’s where we got married, it’s a place incredibly special to us, and fundamentally that’s why it matters because it’s personal to us.”

Cllr Smith’s candidacy comes in the wake of the deselection of former MP Graham Jones, who represented Hyndburn from 2010 to 2019.

He was dropped after being suspended amid an investigation into alleged antisemitism.

Cllr Smith didn't wish to comment on previous goings-on within the Hyndburn constituency Labour party, believing there's "very little to say about what's happened in the past."

She added: “I’ve got my own little baby now and I don’t want him growing up under a Conservative government.

“I want Hyndburn to be a place which is brilliant for children to grow up and people to grow old in, and where once again we can have hope and a vision for our future.

“Aside from where the national polls are right now, people are fed up of what’s been going on over the last 14 years, and when we’re out on the doorstep speaking to residents, we’re hearing consistently that they’re frustrated about what’s going on and the failure of public services.”

The Labour candidate is pinning her campaign for Hyndburn on three priorities - sixth form education, revitalising the area's high street, and improving housing.

She said: "A big part of why I got involved in politics is because I wanted to make a difference for children and young people growing up, especially in more deprived parts of the country.

"I want to see more sixth form provisions and apprenticeships offered to tackle the problem we have of people moving away and not necessarily coming back.

"I think secondly we also have to prioritise our high street, and not just in Accrington but across Hyndburn."

When asked how she'd approach regenerating the area's high streets differently to how the Tories have approached 'levelling up', Cllr Smith said: "Some of the opportunities from that [levelling up] funding have not been driven by genuine local priorities.

"The funding has been pointed at the things the Tories have wanted to fund and they're not always aligned with what the local consensus might be around."

She added: "Thirdly, a really important issue is housing.  It's not about building new homes all the time.

"There are so many homes that are vacant or in poor quality and we need to tackle that and make sure everyone has a good home to live in."

Sara Britcliffe, who is defending a majority of under 3,000, said: “She lives in Blackpool. For me, I feel that we need a local candidate who knows the area.

“I’ve grown up here, lived here all my life, opened a business here, and started work in Accrington Market Hall at the age of 15.

“This election is really important, we’ve delivered over £55 million of funding just here in Accrington, we’ve secured a banking hub in Great Harwood, and Haslingden Market is being refurbished because of the funding that I managed to get in from the Government.

“There’s a lot of progress being made and we don’t want to go back to managed decline here in Hyndburn.”

Ms Britcliffe launched her campaign for re-election last week helped by foreign secretary and former prime minister, David Cameron, who joined her campaigning in Oswaldtwistle.

The full list of candidates running in Hyndburn on July 4 are: Matthew Britcliffe, Workers' Party; Sara Britcliffe, Conservatives; Shabir Fazal, Green Party; Richard Oakley, Reform UK; Sarah Smith, Labour; Beth Waller-Slack, Liberal Democrats.