Today marks the official start of the 2019 Local Election campaign in our city. It’s set against a backdrop of a challenging time for our country.

Here at Portsmouth Labour we are concentrating on grassroots issues and ensuring that we field a full range of candidates, from different backgrounds and walks of life, community campaigners and former councillors, hoping to serve their local area as Portsmouth Councillors after May 2nd.

We’ve got a positive plan for Portsmouth with ambitious ideas that will rebuild our communities and create a city which works for everyone.

As we mark a year of celebration since some women got the right to vote, we are proud to announce that, unlike the other local parties, we have a 50:50 gender balance across the city’s 14 wards.

Portsmouth Labour chair Amanda Martin said: “As we celebrate 100 years since some women were given the right to vote and having myself attended the Jo Cox women in leadership programme, I’m immensely proud to announce that this year Portsmouth Labour has a 50:50 gender split. We have seven fantastic women candidates standing to make their community a better place by becoming a local councillor”.

Speaking about the announcement, city MP and Labour group leader Stephen Morgan added: “I am particularly proud of the diversity of our candidates this year, as I have always believed that a community is best served by having voices from a wide section of ages and backgrounds, and a gender balance which reflects our society. The fact we have a 50:50 split in candidates this year is absolutely brilliant!

I want to pay tribute to the work done behind the scenes by the Portsmouth Labour team who have worked tirelessly to get to this point”.

You can find out about all our candidates by clicking here.