Harrogate Labour Party reveals its choice of candidate for next General Election with emphasis on youthful dynamism

If Conrad Whitcroft, 24, is going to win in Harrogate and Knaresborough, he will have to achieve the scale of upset achieved in the Selby and Ainsty by-election last July by another young Labour star, Keir Mather, 25.

Although he would need to overturn a Tory majority in Harrogate and Knaresborough of more than 9,000, as opposed to 20,000 in Selby and Ainsty, the Harrogate Labour hopeful is well aware the town has never returned a Labour MP to Parliament.

But York-based Conrad Whitcroft, who represents Fishergate on York City Council, says he is raring to take on the challenge.

"I’m really excited. It’s such a fantastic opportunity to stand for the Labour Party in Harrogate and Knaresborough,” said Conrad who says he “fell in love” with North Yorkshire when he moved to York from Northampton in 2017 to study politics at university.

“Things are changing. York and North Yorkshire now has a Labour mayor and I want to help change things for the better here.”

Whitcroft, who plans to move to Harrogate, if elected, is hoping to build on the public mood here reflected in the 2017 General Election when Labour achieved its best result in the constituency for decades with the likable Mark Sewards claiming 20.1% of the vote.

Interested in action, not theory, he says he learned just how important good government is in the real world when he helped out during Covid lockdown.

"I volunteered to do a year as an intern at York City Council just before the pandemic.

"But Covid meant I then had to take on a real role in York on the ground.

"I saw how vital it was first-hand to support the community with effective government.”

Whitcroft took the Fishergate ward in York in last year’s council elections with a 31.6% swing in a city which has had more than its fair share of flooding and traffic problems.

If elected, he says he would put that experience to good use here.

"Harrogate and Knaresborough are great towns but they also share in problems that we are suffering from nationwide these days, such as water pollution, flooding and road congestion.

"The sewage problem in the Nidd is a scandal.

"I know from York what an impact this has on people’s daily lives.

"I’ve got a good record on supporting public transport and strengthening road infrastructure in York.

"Fishergate has been flooded regularly and I have personal experience of dealing with the aftermath of that and cleaning up.”

If the Labour Party has any chance of victory in Harrogate come the General Election, Conrad sees it lying in what he says is the weakness of its current MP.

"Tories can no longer be proud of their record.

"A lot of them are trying to distance themselves from the national government, as we saw in the recent mayoral elections across the country.

"I’ve noticed that Harrogate’s MP is now trying to grab local issues here.

"But his record says he hasn’t been a real local champion of the sort the town deserves.

"If I were to win, I would represent the area properly.”

Mr Whitcroft’s speciality lies in finance and the economy; he works at Aviva in York in pensions.

It’s the changes leader Sir Keir Starmer has made to Labour which convince him that the party is ready to win.

"We are a world away from where we were under the previous leader.

"I’m proud of the work Keir Starmer has done to make that change.

"It is not about getting the Tories out. It is about what we replace them with.

"We always need to answer the question “why us?”

"We are now a serious government in waiting."

The task at hand for the young Labour candidate in Harrogate and Knaresborough is substantial.

Conservative MP Andrew Jones’ majority may have been eaten into at the General Election in 2019 and recent opinion polls may have shown his position is now more vulnerable than at any time before.

But the Labour Party lost nearly 6,000 votes at the last election as some voters moved back to the Lib Dems and the majority voted for Mr Jones for the fourth time in a row.

The possibility exists that a resurgent Labour campaign under their new young hopeful would serve to undermine the Lib Dems’ chances of taking the seat from the Tory MP.

But Conrad Whitcroft is confident of fighting a good fight here.

And he remains committed to public service not only as a strong ethos but also as a matter of simply good manners.

"People under-estimate me at my peril.

"I’ve been written off before and won.

"But I want people at the end of the day to know I’m a decent guy.

"Whatever happens in the General Election, I will shake hands with whoever the winner is.”