Candidates confirmed for battle to replace former UKIP councillor on Sunderland City Council

The Redhill ward by-election has been scheduled for Thursday, March 3, to fill the vacancy left by Keith Jenkins, who stepped down from the local authority in January 2022.

The councillor was one of three UKIP councillors elected to Sunderland City Council in 2019.

He and colleagues Pam Mann and Steven Bewick, representing St Anne’s and Ryhope respectively, formed an official UKIP group which became the third largest opposition group to Labour on the council, behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

But following the collapse of the UKIP vote in the May 2021 round of local elections in Sunderland, the trio announced they were quitting the party.

Cllr Mann later joined the council’s Conservative bloc, while Cllr Jenkins and Cllr Bewick opted to continue as independents.

The deadline for candidates to put themselves forward to replace Cllr Jenkins passed at 4pm on Friday.

The candidates for the Redhill ward seat, in alphabetical order, are:

Steven Boyd DONKIN (Liberal Democrat) Helmut IZAKS (Green Party) Sue LEISHMAN (Conservative Party) Ian LINES (UKIP Save Britain) John Joseph USHER (Labour Party)

The Redhill ward has three seats, one of which will be contested at the by-election in March 2022.

In the latest round of local government elections on May 6, 2021, more than 2,000 votes were cast in Redhill out of a total electorate of 7,965 – a turnout of 25.4%.

Labour and Co-operative candidate Alison Smith won the election with a total of 1,019 votes, a 396-vote majority over Conservative candidate Paul James Anthony Burke who came second.

Details of the upcoming Redhill by-election can be found on Sunderland City Council’s website and any questions can also be directed to the local authority via email at [email protected]

Applications to register to vote must reach the electoral registration officer by midnight on Tuesday, February 15, and can be made online at www.gov.uk/register-tovote

The deadline to apply for a postal vote, or change a current postal vote, for the by-election is 5pm on Wednesday, February 16.

The deadline to apply to vote by proxy, whereby someone is allowed to vote on your behalf, is 5pm on Wednesday, February 23.

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