Labour's candidate standing in the Penrith and Solway constituency has launched his General Election campaign following the announcement of the General Election on the 4th of July.
Markus Campbell-Savours, who is hoping to get elected as MP for the new Penrith and Solway constituency, spoke to a group of supporters in Penrith town center on Saturday (June 1).
Technically it was his second campaign launch as he stood at the same spot in the town centre for what he described as a “soft launch” in February.
He also borrowed his father’s trademark soapbox – Dale Campbell-Savours was the MP for Workington between 1979 and 2001 and now sits in the House of Lords and Mr Campbell-Savours is hoping to follow in his footsteps.
The Cumberland councillor and prospective parlimentary candidate said: “We got ourselves out on the streets because a good campaign starts very, very early.
“As soon as I was selected it was important for me that we got out on the streets and we started speaking to people.
“We started showing people that the Labour party has changed and that we are listening to them and we are not listening just to ourselves.
“So that is why we have been out, we have knocked on thousands of doors and we have been everywhere across Cumbria – from the north tip of Allerdale, up to the fells by Alston, but we’ve still got an awful lot of ground to cover but we are so keen to speak to people.
“It’s been so interesting speaking to people who probably, traditionally, wouldn’t have voted Labour but actually this time they have got a really tough decision to make.”
Mr Campbell-Savours said he was standing because he wanted to see a better Cumbria and added: “This is where I am from and these are the communities I have grown up around and I just know they could be so much better under a Labour government.”
He said the response on the doorstep has so far been positive and added: “It has been fantastic, it’s an odd one this, I don’t think I’ve had an election where the response on the doorstep has been this positive.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I think it’s genuinely because people don’t know what they are doing with that vote and they are falling away from their tribal ways.
“So, to have Conservatives who I think in the past would have very quickly shut their door and very politely told me that weren’t interested, now they are talking and that’s nice because I think it’s getting people an opportunity to see that in many ways their values are our values and there’s nothing to worry about when you panic about Labour.”
Other prospective parliamentary candidates who have currently declared they will be standing for the Penrith and Solway constituency include Conservative candidate Mark Jenkinson and Labour Party candidate Markus Campbell Savours.
The official publication of notice of election will take place on Tuesday the 4th of June marking the official start of the election process and opening of the window for candidates to submit nomination papers to the returning officer, the nominations for candidates will close at 4pm on Friday the 7th of June with the list of all official candidates published by 5pm on the same day.
The Penrith and Solway constituency election will be run by the Cumberland Council returning officer along with the Carlisle constituency and the new Workington and Whitehaven constituency.
Then select "Add to Home Screen"
