Dismay as Labour parachutes in ‘Lewisham luvvie’ for essential by-election | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Labour have been accused of “parachuting” in a member of the celebration’s elite on voters in a vital by-election which might set the tone for basic election later this 12 months.

Instead of going for considered one of plenty of potential native candidates within the Kingswood by-election on February 14, Labour have dipped right into a south London neighbourhood full of senior members of the celebration.

Lewisham Mayor Damien Egan has been picked to attempt to win the Kingswood seat in Gloucestershire off the Conservatives in a by-election referred to as after the resignation of former minister Chris Skidmore who objected to Rishi Suank issuing new licences for oil and gasoline exploration.

Egan lives simply streets away from Labour shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, her sister and fellow shadow cupboard member Ellie and London Mayor Sadiq Khans’ former transport advisor, Heidi Alexander, in a house valued at £753,000.

One Tory supply advised Express.co.uk: “The Lewisham Labour Luvvies are second only to the north London cabal in terms of influence within the party.”

The common value of a home in Kingswood is £297,673 and there are questions over why Labour snubbed native candidates together with two former mayors.

According to his manifesto when he ran for the £80,000 gig as Mayor of Lewisham in 2018, Egan advised voters “Lewisham is his [my] home”, and he pledged as his “highest priority” to be a “Mayor for the community”.

Egan – who has been on the very high of Lewisham and London politics for 14 years after being elected as a Councillor for Lewisham Central in 2010.

Now he has dramatically give up as Mayor of Lewisham, triggering a by-election within the inside London borough, simply hours after being chosen to contest a by-election 120 miles and a 3 hour drive away from the place he referred to as his dwelling.

Kingswood Labour rejected the Labour Mayor of the West of England, Dan Norris, who was named Mayor of the Year in 2023, and the Mayor of Bristol Marvin Reeves in favour of the person already being dubbed “the Lewisham luvvie”, who is known to be near celebration chief Sir Keir Starmer.

Luke Hall, Tory MP for close by Thornbury and Yate, stated: “This is typical Labour – selecting the £80,000 a year Mayor of Lewisham who calls London his home and lives a three-hour drive away from Kingswood as their candidate.

“The fact that they have passed over two local Labour mayors in favour of a Lewisham Labour luvvie shows how little they actually care about the issues facing the people of Kingswood.

“Lewisham is one the worst boroughs in London for knife crime, thefts, and services, all under his watch as Mayor. Do we really want that repeated here?”

Matt Pitts, 33, who has lived within the Kingswood constituency his complete life and is a tutor for Maths, Physics, and Chemistry, stated: “We’re a close-knit community here, and we don’t want to be taken for granted, with a Londoner forced on us.

“I just don’t get how a London Mayor, from Lewisham, can represent us here in Kingswood– they’ve rejected local people.

“It seems to me that the Labour candidate has no idea of what the local issues are, and is only doing it for his own publicity, using our area to further his own career.”

Egan can also be identified to be on the correct of the Labour Party whereas his opponents had been on the left with Sir Keir making an attempt to modernise the celebration and lose the legacy of Jeremy Corbyn.

The Tories are set to choose their candidate this weekend.