Meet your new Warrington South MP Sarah Hall

RESIDENTS are waking up to the news that Warrington South has turned red.

Labour’s Sarah Hall has won the seat from Conservative Andy Carter – unsurprisingly, it has to be said, given the devastating pre-election polls for the Tories across the country.

And many in the constituency may be familiar with the surname of their new MP.

Often described as a bellwether constituency, in 1992 Warrington South was won by Labour’s Mike Hall, who is Sarah Hall’s father-in-law.

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Mr Hall became Warrington South MP in the General Election in 1992 in dramatic fashion – defeating the sitting Conservative MP Chris Butler by just 191 votes.

But, following boundary changes, at the General Election in 1997 he contested the then newly-created Weaver Vale constituency. He was MP of Weaver Vale from 1997 until 2010 when he stepped down.

Mrs Hall has enjoyed a sharp rise since entering the world of politics.

New Warrington South MP Sarah Hall

She was elected to Warrington Borough Council, in the Bewsey and Whitecross ward, in 2016.

It was in 2021 when she was appointed to the cabinet as part of a post-election reshuffle, taking on the portfolio of children’s services. She stepped down from the council ahead of the local elections in May.

Furthermore, she has also gained experience of what life as an MP is like, having worked in the office of Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols, and former Warrington South MP Faisal Rashid.

Warrington South is perhaps not the easiest constituency to plan a long-term political career in, with it often changing hands between Labour and Conservatives.

But, following the boundary changes which have seen Lymm cut from Warrington South and moved to the Tatton constituency, Labour and Mrs Hall will be confident of building a solid foundation in Warrington South on the way to keeping it red for elections to come.

Speaking at the election count at Birchwood Community Hub, after the result, Mrs Hall said: “I am stunned and I feel very lucky, very privileged, and I also feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulder.

“There’s a lot of people that have been saying ‘don’t let us down’, and I fully intend not to let anyone down.

“I’m going to work tirelessly for every single person in Warrington South, in all of the wards, all of them.”

Asked what are going to be some of her biggest priorities as MP, she said: "Some of the things that I’m very passionate about, things like mental health, children’s mental health.

"SEND, because that system is not working, it’s not fit for purpose at the moment.

"I want to campaign and get the leasehold scandal resolved once and for all, that would be fantastic.

"I want better facilities and infrastructure for the town, Broomfields is something that I fully intend to get cracking with in the next week or so, sorting out the swimming pool, but also south of the Ship Canal we need better leisure facilities, so absolutely on that.

"But then a lot of people have raised lots of different issues during the campaign as well, so I’m going to be going through those and seeing how I can support people in those ways as well."