Labour leader Ed Miliband pledges to help Carlisle election candidate

By Julian Whittle Political editor

Last updated at 12:26, Tuesday, 09 October 2012

Labour leader Ed Miliband plans to visit Carlisle in the run up to the next general election.

Lee Sherriff

He promised newly-selected candidate Lee Sherriff that he would campaign on her behalf when he met her at the Labour Party conference in Manchester.

Miss Sherriff said: “He came up to me and said ‘congratulations, you’ve done really well, and I’m looking forward to coming up to campaign for you’.

“I made quite a few contacts and pledges that people would support me. Andy Burnham, the Shadow Health Secretary, said he is coming and so did Margaret Curran, the Shadow Scottish Secretary.”

Carlisle is likely to attract big hitters from both the main parties during the election campaign.

The seat, won by the Conservatives with a majority of 853 at the 2010 general election, is seen as one of the key marginals that will dictate who comes out on top at Westminster.

The then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and Conservative leader David Cameron both visited in the final hours of the 2010 election campaign in an attempt to boost party workers’ morale and win over undecided voters.

This was Miss Sherriff’s second Labour Party conference.

She said: “The highlight was Ed Miliband’s speech. He was fantastic.

“He has found his feet now and he came across as strong.

“There was a different feel to the conference compared with last year. We felt really together as a party. There was a lot of optimism. It was all very positive.”

Her views were echoed by Kevin Parker, the conference delegate from Carlisle Constituency Labour Party, who was equally impressed by Mr Miliband’s performance.

Mr Parker said: “I think Ed showed his human side and the range of his understanding of the issues that matter most to people up and down the country.

“Political leadership is all about interpreting what the future can look like and for Cumbria that’s really important. Ed certainly did this in a way that [David] Cameron and [Nick] Clegg are unable to do.”

First published at 11:25, Tuesday, 09 October 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk