Hull North Labour members reselect Diana Johnson MP

Hull North Labour Party has reselected Diana Johnson to be Labour's Candidate for Hull North at the 2015 General Election.

Chair of Hull North Labour Party Colin Livett said: "All Hull North Labour members have recently had the opportunity to say whether they want a change of Labour Parliamentary candidate for the 2015 General Election. They have overwhelmingly endorsed Diana Johnson.

"Since first being elected in 2005, Diana has worked hard for Hull North through some very challenging years for Labour and for Hull.

"Diana has fought tirelessly to get a fair deal for Hull, especially for those who have been hit hardest by Coalition-induced austerity and the three wasted years of a flat-lining economy. In the past year alone, Diana has spoken over 120 times in the House of Commons and has so far taken up the individual cases of 7,000 constituents since 2010.

"When the Coalition Government or anyone else doesn't treat Hull North fairly, Diana will always say so. But she also co-operates on a cross-party basis for the good of the city. We've seen this time and again over issues such as Siemens, flood insurance and the Caravan Tax. This work often gets results.

"We believe that Diana will help a Labour Government bring hope and fairness back to the people of Hull. Recovery will not be easy, but we have every confidence that Diana will play a leading role in helping to bring it about."

Responding to the news, Diana Johnson MP said: "It's been a privilege to represent Hull North since 2005 and I look forward to campaigning with Hull North Labour members and supporters to keep Hull North Labour in 2015.

"We need a Labour MP in Hull North to make sure we get a Labour Government at Westminster. This is even more so since the Lib Dems went into Coalition with the Tories.

"I can understand why Hull people are angry about the unfair way Hull has been treated by the Coalition Government on issues such as local government funding. I can see why local people want to protest against the broken promises, false claims and opportunism of the Lib Dems on VAT, police numbers, tuition fees, the NHS, the Bedroom Tax, the millionaires' tax cut and much else.

"But recent election results shows that we in the Labour still have work to do making sure that more people realise that voting UKIP is no way to make that protest, let alone get a better government for Hull. How can a party who would rather, through their opposition to all wind energy, see the Siemens jobs go abroad be in the best interests of Hull?

"With UKIP having no answers to the modern challenges facing Hull, and the country as a whole, we clearly need to campaign on Labour's plans to help working families out of the cost of living crisis, give Hull a fairer deal on funding and devolve powers over regeneration so that we can build on Hull's recent locally-built success on Siemens and City of Culture status and the investment made by Labour after 1997.

"Getting round to 40,000 doorsteps to meet all 65,000 Hull North electors is always a challenge! But from this Summer I will be speaking to as many Hull North voters as I can, because it's never been my way to take any vote for granted."

Diana Johnson was first elected at the 2005 General Election in Hull North, the first woman to become an MP for Hull, and then re-elected in 2010. The Hull North MP spent a year as an Education Minister in 2009-10 and since 2010 has been a Labour Shadow Home Office Minister, with responsibility for Crime and Security issues.