A SERVING Tameside councillor is to challenge one of the borough’s sitting MPs at the forthcoming general election.
And two former members will go up against the others.
Phil Chadwick has been selected as the Conservatives’ candidate for the Stalybridge and Hyde seat for the poll on Thursday, July 4.
Currently a Hyde Werneth councillor, he will be up against Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds, as well as five others.
And even though he admits some who voted for him in the local elections may not be able to do the same in a general poll, he believes standing is right.
He told The Correspondent: “It’s been a whirlwind, but a lot of people have been supportive.
“I was asked quite a lot before Christmas, ‘Are you going to be the candidate? Are you standing?’
“I was like, ‘No.’ I just focused on local issues, then it got more and more and eventually I thought, ‘Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?’
“I applied in February, not telling anyone other than my wife, then got all the way through. I went to headquarters and passed the assessment, then it was a waiting game.
“After filling in the form, I had to get references from people I’ve helped and supported in the community, then have an interview before going to Leeds to do a hustings scenario.
“I was told I was approved, then it was waiting for the Stalybridge and Hyde seat to open up. Having lived here all my life, this was the seat I wanted to stand in.
“Thankfully, we have councillors in Stalybridge South and Hyde Godley, so I’ll be linking with them to be aware of the issues.
“I know Hyde, it’s where I’ve lived for 43 years and I know what issues there are here.”
Cllr Chadwick is taking the national plunge at a time when, frankly the Conservatives’ prospects look pretty bleak.
However, he feels his connection with the community can help him.
He added: “There are polls that don’t make it look that great but for me, it’s about having someone local and is a local candidate people can vote for and support. I know how difficult this election is going to be and I’m not naive enough to think otherwise.”
In the Stalybridge and Hyde constituency, Kamala Kugan – a councillor in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey – has been selected as the Liberal Democrats’ candidate while Audel Shirin who stood in the Hyde Newton ward at the local elections, will again be a candidate for the Workers Party of Britain.
Barbara Kaya has been selected to stand for Reform UK, with Robert Hodgetts-Haley for the Green Party and independent Ian Owen.
In the Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, which has been redrawn to now include Audenshaw and Dukinfield, former Tameside councillor Lee Huntbach will be standing for the Green Party.
Aroma Hassan will stand for the Workers Party as they attempt to unseat the Labour Party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner.
While Stockport councillor Dominic Hardwick is the Liberal Democrats’ candidate and Lizzie Hacking, a councillor at Rother in East Sussex, is the Conservatives’.
Mossley’s Robert Barrowcliffe is standing for Reform UK while Andrew Gwynne is up against another ex-Tameside councillor in the Conservatives’ Ruth Welsh, who once served in Hyde Werneth, for the newly named Gorton and Denton seat.
Other candidates live outside Tameside as the redrawing left Denton as the borough’s only part of the constituency, which takes in the Gorton, Abbey Hey, Longsight, Burnage and Levenshulme areas of Manchester.
Amir Bunney represents the Workers Party, while Amanda Gardner is the Green’s candidate, John Reid the Lib Dems’ and Lee Moffitt Reform UK’s.