Former St Albans MP bids to reclaim seat in next General Election
Kerry Pollard - Credit: Archant
FORMER St Albans MP Kerry Pollard has said he is “quietly confident” he can win back his parliamentary seat after being selected to stand as Labour’s contender in the next general election.
Mr Pollard was chosen at a meeting attended by almost half the party’s members on Saturday at the Marlborough Road Methodist Church when he received 60.5 per cent of the vote share.
The dad-of-seven, who saw off competition from Ben Davies and Shelia Chapman, has lived in the city for 40 years and represented St Albans South on the county council and Sopwell ward on the district council before serving as St Albans MP from 1997 to 2005.
Speaking to the Herts Advertiser about why he has decided to stand for Parliament in 2015 he said: “I didn’t even consider it initially and then some of the party members came along and asked me if I would consider it. I thought about it for a long while.
“I looked around the city and saw it now has a pound shop in it, there is all the stuff about benefit cuts and the bedroom tax and that is food and drink to me. That is why I went into politics in the first place to make sure people were cared for in a compassionate society.”
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Mr Pollard explained that his campaign would be centred around building more affordable homes, installing solar panels on all schools and public buildings, continuing to fight against plans to build a rail freight depot near Park Street and developing the city’s heritage.
The former politician, who plans to knock on 100 doors across the district every week until the General Election, added: “I am well-known here, my roots are here and I know what we need to do to get our city to a better place than it is today.
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“In 1997 I came from third place and took the seat from a very popular and well-known Liberal Democrat when it was theirs for the taking so that gives me confidence as we are in a better third place than we were before.
“In 2005 I lost by 1,500 votes and the geopolitical map has changed dramatically. I feel quietly confident; not complacent at all but quietly confident.”
