The Labour Party’s Tanya Pretswell (North Jesmond) and Charlie Gray (South Jesmond) are the first candidates to be announced ahead of the Newcastle City Council local elections on May 6th.

There is one seat available in each ward in May’s election, which was delayed a year because of Covid-19. At the last local election, in May 2019, Gerry Keating was elected to represent the Liberal Democrats for North Jesmond with 50% of votes while in South Jesmond, with 37% of the votes, Lesley Storey was elected representative for the Labour Party.

Across the city, the Labour party won 14 seats, with 30% of the votes. The Liberal Democrats secured 8 seats with 23% of votes cast.

This year, Tanya Pretswell and Charlie Gray are hoping to retain for Labour the seats being vacated by Councillors Wendy Young and Arlene Ainsley in North and South Jesmond respectively. JesmondLocal contacted both councillors to find out their reasons for stepping down, but neither has responded yet.

The City Council comprises 26 wards in total and its democratic services officer, Linda Scott, told JesmondLocal that only in Byker and Chapel wards are there two seats vacant.

You can meet and quiz all the local election candidates when JesmondLocal hosts a Zoom version of its traditional local election hustings on Tuesday May 4th from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.

This online event is free, but to be able to attend, you must register. Details of the Zoom link and passcode will be emailed to all registrants just a couple of hours before the event begins. We will also be emailing registrants with details of how they can put their questions to the candidates.

To get your free ticket, register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jesmond-local-election-hustings-2021-online-tickets-152269302583