Andy Street: Local candidates can give Tories the edge
Andy Street says the high number of local parliamentary candidates picked for West Midlands seats could give the Tories the edge when the region heads to the polls next month.
Around two thirds of Conservatives selected to fight the 28 seats across the West Midlands are from the region, a far higher proportion than at the 2017 election.
West Midlands Mayor Mr Street said that years of "nurturing local talent" had created the most representative team of candidates ever fielded by the region’s Conservatives.
"This is a team of locals, picked by locals and we are very excited about their potential to make a real difference," he said.
"We have spent years nurturing and encouraging local talent to arrive at this team – with outreach and talent spotting events, generating a pool of local talent picked by local party members."
Just under 40 per cent of this year's Tory candidates are women, and 29 per cent come from a BME background, although Mr Street said no quotas were used in selecting candidates.
"All this has been going on in the background to avoid a repeat of 2017, when despite being talented people too many candidates were from outside our area," he added.
"We now have a strong united team from the West Midlands for the West Midlands, with a real mix of talent, experience and skills."
It comes as the Labour Party has faced criticism from local activists for parachuting candidates in from outside the region to contest key seats.
They include Ibrahim Dogus in West Bromwich East and Lucy Caldicott in Dudley South, who both serve as councillors in London.
In the Black Country 46 per cent of Labour candidates are from the West Midlands. The same percentage are women, while 23 per cent are from a BME background.
