The Labour Party has picked its candidate for the East Brighton by-election this evening (Thursday 20 December).
Former parliamentary candidate Nancy Platts will contest the by-election which is expected to be held in early February.
The vacancy will be created by the resignation of Lloyd Russell-Moyle who won the Brighton Kemptown seat in the House of Commons at the general election in June.
He only became one of the three East Brighton councillors at a by-election in August last year.
Nancy Platts, who worked as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s liaison with the unions until earlier this year, said: “I’m so proud to be representing the Labour Party in the East Brighton by-election.
“Lloyd has been a wonderful councillor and I look forward to meeting lots of people over the coming weeks and working for the benefit of the East Brighton community.”
Councillor Russell-Moyle, who is expected to stand down from Brighton and Hove City Council in the coming fortnight, said: “I’m delighted that East Brighton Labour has selected the fantastic Nancy Platts as our candidate to replace me in East Brighton.
“Nancy, who I worked for in the 2015 general election, has a background in working for the fire service and campaign organisations fighting child poverty and her voice will be vital for East Brighton.
“Living just off Eastern Road, Nancy is a local who is knows the area well and will campaign for homes, community spaces and buses for all our area.”
The seat is regarded as a safe Labour seat and returned two other councillors from the same party at the most recent elections – council leader Warren Morgan and deputy leader Gill Mitchell.
This area looks to be interesting, With Gill Mitchell standing down and cllr Morgan under fire within his Party, it could be a lively selection of candidates for 2019.
Yes time for a few Independents Christopher.
Same old faces. You’d think with the exciting influx of new members since Corbyn/Momentum we might actually get some new blood to represent us instead of Nancy bluddy Platts, a women who’s been around longer than that old bottle of Creme de Menthe everyone has at the back of the cupboard. I voted for Lloyd because he was young, and although spent his career in/around politics seems to be pretty unaffected, dare I say ‘normal’. I do not see this from Platts, AT ALL. What a shame. Lets get more Brightonians with lives away from politics representing our interests.