Labour Party ditches candidate in North West Cambridgeshire constituency ahead of General Election

The Labour Party has ditched a candidate for the upcoming general election at the last minute.

The change in Cambridgeshire North West follows the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party deselecting candidate Ed Murphy.

Ed went to school in the constituency and has been a party activist for 35 years. He worked in the last Labour government’s No10 Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and for the NHS to improve public health. In 2010, he was Labour's candidate for Peterborough.

Today, the now former candidate was not answering his mobile phone.

Labour's Cambridgeshire North West Constituency chairman Alex Hall told the Mercury: "Late last night, the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party informed us that it had withdrawn it's endorsement of Ed Murphy. This means he can no longer stand as a candidate representing Labour.

"This is difficult news for us as we had made an energetic start to a positive campaign. We are told a new candidate will be found and nominated today."

Both Mr Hall and the Eastern Region Labour Party declined to comment on the reasons for this.

However, a regional Labour Party spokesman said a new candidate was in place.

Cathy Cordiner-Achenbach is a Great Yarmouth councillor, deputy leader of the Labour group on its council and chairman of Great Yarmouth Constituency Labour Party.

On Twitter, she describes herself as "teacher,mum, social entrepreneur.

Nominations for the upcoming General Election are due to close at 4pm today.

In North West Cambridgeshire, the Conservative candidate is qualified solicitor Shailesh Vara.

The Uganda-born 59-year-old has been the constituency MP since 2005. He is a former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party and last year was Minister of State for Northern Ireland.

The Lib-Dem candidate is Bridget Smith, who is also the leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council.

She has lived in the county 35 years and been a councillor for 11 years, claiming a strong track record in delivering community development projects.

Bridget wants to bring “truth and honesty back into politics”.

The Green Party candidate is Nicola Day, who is leader of the Green Group on Peterborough City Council. She also describes herself as “mother, teacher, musician”.

The Stamford Mercury will have more election coverage, including details of other candidates in the various constituencies in our circulation area.