General Election: Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor candidates outline their campaigns

The seven candidates standing for election in the Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor constituency have announced their campaigns to voters.

Rishi Sunak announced the General Election for July 4 last month, saying it was “the moment for Britain to choose its future”.

Under its new name of Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor, the seat comprises the majority of the current Sedgefield constituency but takes in Spennymoor, Tudhoe, and Coxhoe.

Wards: Aycliffe East, Aycliffe North and Middridge, Aycliffe West, Bishop Middleton and Cornforth, Chilton, Coxhoe, Ferryhill, Sedgefield, Spennymoor, Trimdon and Thornley (part), Tudhoe.

Previous MP: Paul Howell, Conservative

Brian Agar, Transform

I’m running to represent local people against the same old Labour-Tory nonsense that has given us increasingly poor living standards. I've lived locally for 23 years, and I've seen first-hand the damage that 14 years of austerity has done to the country and the local area. I won’t be bullied into voting for things that won’t benefit the local community.

Red and Blue Tories claim there is no money for our communities, but it magically appears when their banker mates want hand-outs, or MPs want expenses paid. I will fight tooth and nail for us to have the money we need for our NHS, schools, local transport, and care services.

Anne-Marie Curry, Liberal Democrat

I was the primary carer for my late mam, and so I have seen close-up what's happened to our NHS and care system.

The Lib Dems have a fully-costed plan to fix the failures by taxing the bankers, rather than raising personal taxes on ordinary families.

As MP, I'd vote to raise the carer's allowances to help people caring for family in their own homes. I'd stop Labour and the Conservatives from taking our area for granted by working with local Lib Dem councillors, such as Spennymoor's Dean Ranyard and Aycliffe's Lindsey Aston, to demand we see real levelling up.

John Grant, Reform UK

I grew up in the constituency and have a deep sense of the importance of community and fairness.

The majority of this area, including myself, voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union and then had to watch politicians and civil servants go out of their way to disrupt and frustrate the process of this country's exit from the EU.

The last couple of years have shown just how corrupt and malicious the establishment is, following this government’s unjustified and unnecessary Covid panic.

I truly believe Reform UK is the party that will deliver much-needed change for this great country.

Paul Howell, Conservative

I would like residents to vote for me to represent them because I am of this place. I was not only born and raised here, I have spent my life here. First, working in local businesses and then spending time on Durham and Darlington Councils.

We need someone who understands Durham, not Haringey. The priorities of people in County Durham are a world away from those experienced in London.

As the former MP for Sedgefield, I have a track record of supporting local investment, listening and acting on residents' concerns and delivering for them, and I would love the opportunity to continue.

Jack Hughes, Green

Ever since I moved to County Durham I have been amazed by its beauty and potential. County Durham is a mix of old and new, industrial and modern, and young and old.

If you want someone who will work to unleash our County’s potential by:

Fighting for green jobs and fair wages.

Pushing for lower energy bills and better housing.

Listening to you and your needs, not Westminster and its politics.

Then vote for real hope, vote for real change, vote for me.

Alan Strickland, Labour

My top priority is securing the future of the world-class Hitachi trains factory in Newton Aycliffe. Hitachi’s 700 workers have been badly let down by Tory dithering and delay.

If elected, I will fight tirelessly to secure Hitachi’s future, work to bring more well-paid jobs to the area and deliver Labour’s commitments to put more police on our streets, more NHS doctors and dentists in our communities and more teachers in local schools. I was born, raised and live in Newton Aycliffe – it would be an honour to serve our constituency in Parliament.

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Minhajul Suhon, Workers Party

I am not a career politician. I am a veteran, a business owner, and a Spennymoor local.

I am standing to be your MP to offer a choice beyond the Tories and Labour—a choice beyond austerity and betrayal.

Many of us are tired of empty promises and the two-party system. I want to revitalise the region, bring back blue-collar jobs, and deliver needed social housing.

I will fight the establishment to protect your rights to strike, speak out, and protest.

I stand for the workers, the farmers, the pensioners, the poor, and the vulnerable.

In this election, lend me your vote. Choose excitement, choose change.