Mulgrave By-Election: LABOUR Challenges Tory SBC Majority

Mulgrave By-Election: LABOUR Challenges Tory SBC Majority

Scarborough & Whitby Labour Party have a very strong candidate in the forthcoming by-election for the Mulgrave ward of Scarborough Borough Council – HUGO FEARNLEY – in support of whom the party has issued the following Press Release.

Success for Labour would topple the long-standing Conservative majority at Scarborough Borough Council and could herald a change of Leader and a new Cabinet.

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Labour on track to upset cosy complacency at SBC

Labour is campaigning hard to win the Mulgrave by-election – and end Tory control of Scarborough Borough Council.

Scarborough and Whitby Labour Party is seeking to join the growing list of recent Labour victories in previously ‘unwinnable’ council seats, such as those in West Worthing, Eden and Staffordshire Moorlands.

Says Hugo Fearnley, the party’s candidate for Mulgrave:

‘With just a small swing, this seat will be won by Labour, and the Conservatives will lose overall control of Scarborough council. Mulgrave voters have an opportunity to make a real impact on stopping the council’s brutal cuts to public services.’

Hugo fought the seat in May’s county council elections: ‘I knocked on scores of doors in Mulgrave ward, and listened hard to local concerns.’

‘There is a strong view that Mulgrave’s villages to the north of Whitby have been forgotten by Scarborough BC. Rural areas have been hard hit by slashes to local services. These have left local residents vulnerable, and often struggling to manage. The council isn’t listening.’

The issues which come up most on the doorstep, says Hugo, are housing, employment, social care and transport. Labour, he added, sees the seat as very winnable. ‘An active councillor makes a huge difference to how these villages are represented on Scarborough Council. We have a great chance to make the council listen to rural concerns, and to stand up for local people’s interests. We are for the many, not the few.’

A Labour victory for Hugo in Mulgrave would wipe out the Conservative majority on the council. Hugo will be joining 13 Labour councillors who, together with members from other parties and independents, will equal the number of Tory seats. ‘There’s a real opportunity for change. Labour is looking for investment, not austerity.’

Hugo has set up a Question and Answer session at The Old School, Hinderwell, on Wednesday 23 August at 7 pm. All are welcome, and every election candidate has been asked along.

The by-election was called when a Conservative councillor elected in 2015 resigned after missing every meeting for six months.

Hugo is 35 and grew up in Mulgrave and the Esk Valley. He attended schools in Whitby, where he now runs a family business.