The 2024 general election has confirmed candidates for the key Birmingham constituency

With the general election around four weeks away, one Birmingham constituency to watch in the coming days is Northfield. In 2019, the Conservatives managed to win the seat and turn Northfield blue for the first time in 27 years.

Gary Sambrook polled 19,957 votes and won by a majority of 1,640 over Labour’s Richard Burden who received 18,317 votes. It was the only Birmingham City constituency to change hands during the general election that year.

Five years on, the Conservatives will be fighting to keep their seat as they face opposition from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Reform. With that in mind, here are the candidates confirmed to stand in the Northfield constituency so far via the Who Can I Vote? the website or the political parties themselves.

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Candidates

After the general election was announced last month, Gary Sambrook said he was proud to stand as a Tory candidate in this year’s general election, writing on his website that he had delivered results for local people and addressed “decades of neglect”. He says he has previously worked on school rebuilding projects, West Works funding and improvements to Kings Norton station.

He has also criticized budget cuts by Labour-led Birmingham City Council in the past and campaigned to “save” weekly rubbish collections as well as the area’s libraries. The council’s financial plight is due to problems specific to Birmingham, such as an equal pay fiasco and the disastrous implementation of a new IT and finance system, as well as rising demand for services and funding cuts.

Council leader John Cotton has previously criticized the Tory government and claimed that councils across the country are facing a perfect storm of lower budgets and higher costs, while Tory politicians such as Rishi Sunak have pointed the finger at mistakes made by the administration Labor council.

The Labor Party candidate is Laurence Turner, who worked for the GMB union and wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “It is a privilege to represent Northfield Labor and fight for change after 14 years of Tory failure. “I will work hard every day to fulfill the work plan and repay the faith that has been shown in me.”

He added that residents had raised “serious issues” about crime, the NHS and housing, adding: “We work hard for every vote.”

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Dr Jerry Evans, who was a councilor and archaeologist during his professional career, is the Liberal Democrat candidate running for Northfield. He says he stands on a broad platform, but the policies Dr Evans is particularly proud to stand for are the Lib Dems’ plan to recruit 8,000 more GPs and reform NHS dentistry.

He also backs plans to extend free school meals to every primary school child and secondary school student whose families receive Universal Credit. Meanwhile, the Green Party candidate is Rob Grant, who is currently a Birmingham councilor for Kings Norton South.

Mr Grant says he wants to use his experience of representing people in that ward to make politics work better for local people and ensure people can have a say in decisions that affect them. Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay added: “We are delivering common sense, affordable policies that will dramatically improve our quality of life.”

Stephen Peters, a local resident for the past 45 years, is running for the Reform Party. “As a retired person living on a modest fixed income, I know how the cost of living, rising crime and problems in the NHS have affected every family; and that UK reform policies will help everyone living in Birmingham Northfield,” he wrote on the reform website.

“I want to restore pride in our country with fairness and justice for all.”

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