Hartlepool mum and businesswoman plans to stand for MP in by-election

Samantha Lee, a former sports journalist at the Hartlepool Mail who went on to start her own PR firm, is considering running as an independent candidate having never been a member of a political party.

A “Hartlepudlian through and through”, the 45-year-old mum says she wants to stand up for the town and hold the Government to account.

The by-election will be held on an unfixed date following Mike Hill’s sudden resignation earlier this week.

Samantha is now is gauging what level of public support she has before making a final decision, adding: “Hopefully with your backing, I am going to give it a crack.W

She was a football reporter at the Mirror before covering her team, Hartlepool United, for the Hartlepool Mail and later setting up her own Publicity Seekers PR company.

Posting on social media, she wrote: “Right now, there’s industry growing all around us and we are missing out because no one is standing up for us.

“We have an under-used port, a potential goldmine in the Marina, incredible beaches in need of facilities, fantastic colleges and schools, access to Dogger Bank, a neglected hospital that should be serving us and countless other things going for us.

"As this is possibly the only seat in the UK for the next two years, the career politicians who missed the boat at the 2019 General Election are going to see Hartlepool as their ticket into Westminster, I expect the circus to arrive in town any day now.”

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