With council elections just around the corner, we're shining a spotlight on the parties standing candidates in Hartlepool to give them a chance to make their case to residents.

Voters are due to head to polling stations on Thursday, May 7, to have their say on who should represent them on Hartlepool Borough Council.

One seat is up for grabs in each of the area’s 12 wards and a total of 57 candidates are standing across the borough.

All parties fielding contenders, along with the independents hoping to be elected, have been given the opportunity to tell readers why you should vote for them.

Graham Harrison of Reform UK, Hartlepool.

placeholder image — Graham Harrison of Reform UK, Hartlepool.

Here’s what Burn Valley candidate Graham Harrison, interim chairman of the Hartlepool branch of Reform UK, who have candidates standing in all 12 wards, had to say:

“Reform UK is a movement of ordinary people who believe Hartlepool deserves better—and who are ready to roll up our sleeves and deliver it.

“We are not career politicians. We are your neighbours, your colleagues, and the people you already see doing the work every day.

“Look at our team, and you see the strength of this town itself. We have a former Mayor who represented the borough with dignity through the national transition from Queen to King.

“We have retired veterans from the RAF and the Gulf who served their country with distinction and are now ready to serve their community.

“We have an international security specialist whose judgement has been trusted at the highest levels.

“We have business owners from hospitality, retail, construction, and financial services – people who meet payrolls, manage budgets, and understand what the real world costs.

“We have candidates with backgrounds in education, civil engineering, and the civil service.

“We have a retired fisherman and a rugby coach with nearly 30 years of grassroots community work behind him.

“We have mothers, fathers, and grandparents, rooted in their wards by family, memory, and generation.

“Between us, we carry the skills, the scars, and the stories of Hartlepool. What unites us is not background; it is belief.

“We believe in safer streets, cleaner estates, honest budgeting, and a council that listens.

“We believe in fixing the basics properly before spending a penny on vanity projects.

“We believe in standing up for veterans, for businesses, for young people, and for the quiet majority who have been ignored for too long.

“A vote for Reform UK is a vote for change – change rooted in experience, delivered with discipline, and measured in results. Change that will make people’s lives better.”