Whilst the result was never in doubt for Labour’s Tony Lloyd at the last general election, the big story from the Rochdale constituency was Simon Danczuk standing as an independent candidate following his dismissal from the Labour Party.
The Rochdale constituency was first created in 1950. Since then it has only returned one conservative MP, with the seat generally going back and forth between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Rochdale voted to leave in the EU referendum with 60.01%, with a turnout of 65%. UKIP came second in this seat back in the pre-Brexit era (2015 general election).
Liberal Democrats – Andy Kelly
Kelly is standing for the third time in the Rochdale seat for the Liberal Democrats. On both previous occasions he has seen his share of the vote go down and will be hoping to avoid this again in 2019. Will hope to sweep up some of the near 40% remain voters from the 2016 referendum.
Twitter – https://twitter.com/andykelly?lang=en
Conservative – Atifa Shah
Standing at her first general election, taking over the Conservative Party candidacy from Jane Howard, who increased their share of the vote at the last election. Describes herself as a proud Rochdalian and serial tea drinker.
Twitter – https://twitter.com/atifashah?lang=en
Brexit Party – Chris Green
The Brexit Party won the European Elections in Rochdale earlier in the year with 32.32% of the votes. This is the first general election for The Brexit Party and there is little information for Chris Green available on the internet.
Green – Sarah Croke
A research associate at University of Manchester, Croke is standing at her first election for the Green Party. She is the first Green Party candidate to stand since Mark Hollinrake at the 2015 General Election, who failed to get his deposit back with a disappointing 3% of the vote.
Croke will hope more media prevalence for the Greens in the campaign will translate into votes on election night.
Twitter – @drsarahcroke
Labour – Tony Lloyd
Lloyd took over the Labour seat after the 2017 general election, winning 58% of the vote and increasing Labour’s share of the vote from two years previously. He has been described a major figure on Labour politics in Manchester and was running for to be Labour’s Manchester mayoral candidate before losing to Andy Burham.
Twitter – https://twitter.com/tony4rochdale
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