HOUSE OF COMMONS SPEAKER MAKES PLEA TO UNINTERESTED VOTERS IN HIS SEAT

As politicians nationwide scrap for every vote, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has an extra problem – getting locals in his constituency to realise there's an election there at all.

That's because by tradition, the Speaker does not face candidates from the Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats.

Sir Lindsay, 67, is being challenged by the Green Party and three other hopefuls in his Chorley, Lancashire, seat.

He said: 'The fact that the three main parties aren't fielding candidates has led some people to think that somehow there's no election here. 

'But there very much is. I'm up for election like any other would-be MP across the country and it's important that people in this constituency cast their vote.'

In Chorley this week, not every voter was happy with the tradition of the main parties not challenging a Speaker. Painter and decorator Bernard Taylor, 62, said: 'We should be given a choice of all parties.' 

He was 'disappointed' the Reform party had not fielded a prospective MP, saying: 'If there was a Farage candidate, I'd vote for him.'

But record shop owner Malcolm Allen stressed the value of having a Speaker as MP. 

He said: 'We get more done because of that – ministers come to see him.' 

He added that if Sir Lindsay, town MP since 1997, 'took his shirt off, you might see Chorley stamped down his spine'.

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2024-06-23T01:17:47Z dg43tfdfdgfd