Three new faces hit campaign trail for UKIP

Joshua Green, Paul Holt and Reg Coulson – all from Houghton – will stand for election on May 5.

While they are hoping to be elected to the city council for the first time, the trio have spent a year on Hetton town Council.

Teenager Joshua, who works in IT, was selected for St Chads ward.

At the age of 19, he is the youngest councillor to be elected to the town council and hopes to be the youngest ever city councillor.

Copt Hill will have its first ever UKIP candidate with well-known local face Reg Coulson, who has been teaching people to drive for decades.

He said: “I am horrified to see our fields being developed for housing at an alarming rate and believe it’s time for change.”

Paul, from Houghton, works for an electronics company and is UKIP’s candidate for Houghton.

He said: “Decades of dominance by one political party has not proved beneficial to Sunderland or its residents.

“You only have to look at councils where there has been opposition in the council chamber to see what can be achieved.”

Also standing in Copt Hill are Pat Francis (Con), Kevin Johnston (Lab) and Daniel Olaman (Green).

In Houghton, the election is being contested by George Brown (Con), Alex Scullion (Lab) and Mick Watson (Ind).

In St Chads the vote is being contested by Richard Bradley (Green), Margaret Crosby (Lib Dem), Darryl Dixon (Lab) and Dominic McDonough (Con).