Jodie Gosling announced as Nuneaton's Labour candidate

[dutchman]

Nursery manager and teacher Jodie Gosling has been a councillor since 2016



Jodie Gosling has been announced as the Labour Party parliamentary candidate for Nuneaton in Warwickshire.

The 52-year-old was picked ahead of tech firm director Daniel Shearer and several councillors in a vote of Labour members.

Ms Gosling, leader of the Labour group on North Warwickshire Borough Council, has been a councillor since 2016.

The Nuneaton seat has been held by Conservative MP Marcus Jones since 2010.

In a statement Ms Gosling said it was an "absolute honour" to have been selected to represent her hometown.

"I'm embedded in this community and I've been working for our local residents for years," she added.

"I'll continue to listen to residents and be a strong voice in Parliament and deliver for Nuneaton and the villages to give us our future back."

Mr Jones retained the seat with a majority of 13,144 at the last general election in 2019.

Nuneaton has historically been a bellwether seat, meaning the constituency often votes for MPs from the party that wins general elections.

It's the kind of constituency Labour will be hoping to win back to secure a majority at the next election.

All-out elections at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council in May will indicate the mood.

Ms Gosling joins Rob Howard, who has been selected to represent Reform UK, and the Green Party's parliamentary candidate Keith Kondakor. The Conservative Party has not yet announced if Mr Jones will stand or not.