General Election 2024: Meet the candidates who will be fighting for your votes in Harborough

Here are the candidates we know, so far, will be standing for the Harborough, Oadby and Wigston seat. We will add more as they are announced.

Conservative

Neil O’Brien, the incumbent MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, has confirmed he is standing for re-election.

Mr O’Brien has served the constituency since 2017, replacing Conservative Edward Garnier following the snap general election. He was re-elected in 2019.

He said: "I live in this constituency with my wife and our two small children. This is an amazing place and I want to protect it and make it even better.

“Representing Harborough over the last seven years we have made progress. We have 332 more police officers in Leicestershire than we did four years ago. There are over 50 per cent more doctors nurses and other clinical staff working in GP practices in this constituency than at the last election.

“Despite the difficulties caused by Covid and the Ukraine war, inflation has come down and the economy is turning round.

“There are loads of issues to fix and I have been one of the most active MPs pressing for tougher action on illegal immigrations and the small boats crisis."

Liberal Democrats

Leader of Harborough District Council Cllr Phil Knowles is in the running for the Harborough seat as the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate.

He said: “We have the chance to make a real change. We have shown that locally we deliver for our community. We work closely, locally,with the Greens and Labour, respectfully, harmoniously.

“I am determined to find the way forward to deliver the best for our community. I share the concerns of our community and I ask people from across the political spectrum and those who have no political allegiance to lend me your votes on July 4th and help me make a difference for our community.

“Help me to take up issues one by one: lack of GP appointments, struggles with hospitals and hospital beds, the challenges of ambulance call outs and hand over times, the cost of living crisis, investment in schools, young families and senior citizens.

“Businesses desperately need a strong local voice - local people being positivity impacted locally by having a strong local champion.”

Labour

Hajira Piranie will be representing Labour on July 4.

The candidate is a sepsis-survivor and volunteers for The UK Sepsis Trust - a charity which raises awareness and provides support to those affected by the condition.

In 2019, aged 23, Ms Piranie contracted sepsis following an ectopic pregnancy loss.

She believes it is necessary to invest in local healthcare to help catch illnesses such as sepsis in time to save lives.

Hajira sits on the board of governors at Beauchamp College as well as working for Unison, representing low-paid workers in the NHS and schools.

She is also working with University Hospitals of Leicester on the Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign, representing Health Care Assistants.

She said: “We need to invest in local hospitals like St Luke’s in Market Harborough and the Urgent Care centre in Oadby. I have seen in my work and know from my own experience just how vital local healthcare services are. Treatment for sepsis and other serious conditions can be successful if they’re picked up in time."

Reform UK

Former teacher Danuta Jeeves is standing as the Reform UK Candidate.

She said: “I am a 66-year-old retired teacher, mother and grandmother and I have a lot of life experiences and knowledge and have always been proud to be British.

"I am standing to be a political candidate as I have had enough of the current anti-democratic government that has supposedly run Great Britain according to the will of the people, when in fact, it has done the complete opposite and thwarted the wishes of the very people who voted both nationally and locally.

"I will be holding weekly drop-in meetings throughout the constituency in the coming weeks leading to the election, in Wigston, Oadby and Market Harborough, details of which will be posted on the Reform UK Harborough, Oadby and Wigston Facebook page, which I would urge Reform supporters to join.

“Britain and its counties need change and Reform UK is the only party that will do this. Reform UK is the party of common sense and common sense policies we will deliver."

Green Party

Harborough district Green councillor Darren Woodiwiss will be standing for the Harborough, Oadby and Wigston seat on behalf of the Green Party.

Darren said: “As your MP I will fight for our NHS, education and clean up our dirty rivers and verges. Harborough, Oadby and Wigston needs real change to preserve our beautiful landscape, create better public transport links and celebrate incredible local products. My goal is to ensure that everyone’s voice gets heard."

The Green Candidate said his career in computing means he is ‘an experienced problem solver’ and ‘believes in fixing issues he encounters’. He cites an example of a litter picking group he launched that collected nearly 1,000 sacks of rubbish from the estate around his office.

The environmentalist says he also co-founded grassroots climate change action Sustainable Harborough Community, helped to secure a £1million grant to run the Sustainable Harborough project and is a volunteer director of Harborough Energy Ltd, delivering community owned renewable energy projects in the area.

SDP

Robin Lambert is the Social Democratic Party Candidate and we await his response to our request for his pitch.