Ex-Labour MP Anna Turley selected again to contest General Election

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed last month that Ms Turley was in line for a return to frontline politics as the party’s prospective parliamentary candidate in the seaside town.

She was chosen following a hustings event and ballot of local members in Teesville ahead of another shortlisted candidate Thomas Murphy, from Middlesbrough.

One local councillor told the LDRS that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had favoured Ms Turley, who was ousted as Redcar MP in the November 2019 General Election by the Conservatives’ Jacob Young.

Another councillor said Mr Murphy was “unknown” and always likely not to elicit enough support to beat the 44-year-old.

Labour described Ms Turley, who is chairwoman of the North East Poverty Commission, as having a track record of fighting for local people and “working with residents and community groups to combat 13 years of Tory devastation”.

The former MP, who is also a school governor in Redcar, said she was “deeply embedded in the community” and it was her home and the place she belonged.

She said: “This is a place full of determination, resilience and passion.

“In me, Labour has someone who understands our area. 

“Someone who has fought and will continue to fight, tooth and nail for the people of Redcar. 

“I’ve spent countless hours out on the doorstep, listening to the concerns people here have and one thing is clear – the Tories do not have the answers to the everyday problems Redcar is facing.”

She added: ”I will be working every second from now, out on the doors, listening to local people and making sure their voices are heard.”

Ms Turley was selected from an all-female shortlist to fight the Redcar seat for Labour in 2015 and succeeded the Liberal Democrats’ Ian Swales, before being re-elected again two years later, taking more than half the share of the vote.

She was a prominent campaigner in the fight to save the former SSI steelworks, helping secure funding for a local task force to support redundant workers, and introduced a successful private members’ bill to increase the maximum sentences available to the courts for animal cruelty following an incident in Redcar in which yobs threw a dog down a flight of stairs.

Ms Turley, who is originally from Dartford, Kent and an Oxford University graduate, worked as a special advisor in the Department for Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office before moving into PR, local Government and public policy research.

Redcar MP Jacob Young said he wished to congratulate Ms Turley on her selection.

He said: “I look forward to an interesting and robust campaign.

Mr Young previously said he had worked tirelessly in the past four years to get results for his constituents. He cited as successes during his tenure the £25m secured from the Government for the Redcar Town Deal project, 250 extra police officers at Cleveland Police and the creation of the UK’s largest freeport on Teesside.

MP Jacob Young, who represents Redcar for the Conservatives

He added: “Our plan is working, we’re making progress and we are transforming Teesside for the better, but there is still much more to do here. My focus remains on helping Redcar and Cleveland reach its full potential. Representing my hometown in Parliament has been the honour of my life and I will continue fighting for its residents as long as I am here.”

The other major national political party the Lib Dems have begun the process of having potential candidates apply, but it is understood its selection process won’t get fully underway until the autumn.