Four councillors want to be MPs

FOUR members of Warrington Borough Council are seeking to become MPs at the General Election – probably a unique occurrence.
Conservative Fiona Bruce has been selected to contest Congleton and Labour’s Yvonne Fovargue has been chosen from an all-woman shortlist to fight the Makerfield seat.
Liberal Democrat Jo Crotty will be contesting the Warrington South seat while Conservative Paul Campbell is taking on the virtually impossible task of taking Warrington North from Labour.
Two of the four, Coun Bruce and Coun Fovargue, are almost certain to be elected.
The Congleton seat is regarded as a safe Tory seat. At the last election, Conservative Ann Winterton had a majority of 8,246 over Labour.
At Makerfield, former cabinet minister Ian McCartney had a massive 18,149 majority over the Conservatives, making it one of the safest Labour seats in the country.
Coun Bruce, a local solicitor and Coun Fovargue, wife of borough councillor Paul Kenny, both continue to serve as councillors, although Coun Bruce has stepped down from her role as executive member for finance to be able to devote more time to campaigning in her new constituency.
Coun Crotty will have a difficult task to take the Warrington South seat, currently held for Labour by Helen Southworth with a majority of 3,515. At the last election, the Liberal Democrats came third, trailing 4,346 votes behind the second placed Tories, ironically then represented by Coun Bruce.
Key seat
The seat is regarded as key to the Conservatives forming the next Government and their candidate, David Mowat, has been working hard in the constituency for some time while Labour’s Nick Bent has only recently arrived on the scene following Mrs Southworth’s decision not to seek re-election.
Coun Campbell’s chances of wresting the Warrington North seat from Labour’s Helen Jones, can perhaps best be summed up by noting that he has taken over the role of the council’s finance chief from Coun Bruce. But the odds are he should keep the Lib Dem’s David Eccles – a former Labour councillor – in third place.
Ms Jones’ majority over the Tories in 2005 was 12,204, making the seat another of the safest Labour strongholds in the country.
Pictured, right, from the top in alphabetical order, Coun Bruce, Coun Campbell, Coun Crotty and Coun Fovargue.