'The people are friendly' - says North-East Party candidate for Hartlepool by-election

Hilton Dawson, who will be representing the North East Party at the Hartlepool by-election on Thursday, May 6, was speaking after joining his leafleting team in town.

He said: “People are friendly but wonder what we are offering them.

“I counter the usual remarks about politicians by telling them that actually I’m not like that and nor is the North East Party.

"We’re just North-East people trying to work out something better for ourselves.

“That latter point seems to go down better. Most people are willing to take a leaflet and we hope that isn’t just them being polite and that they might just read some of it before it heads to the bin.

“We are a people-centred party. The only purpose of politics is to help people have more say over the big decisions of their lives.”

Mr Dawson, a former Labour MP for Lancaster and Wyre, is currently 500-1 to win with the Conservatives, who have not held the seat since 1964, 4-7 on favourites to triumph on May 6. He said: “I said from the start that we have a ‘mountain to climb’ but we are genuinely trying to fight a good campaign, which supports debate & involves people, which will encourage more people to vote.

"We’ve made a good start, we’re flogging ourselves up the foothills. However, the problem I’m finding is that the more I meet the people and see what could be done, the more I really want to win.

“I absolutely know that I could serve this town well.”

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