Hampden Park and Sovereign by-elections: Who is standing?
Voters in Hampden Park and Sovereign wards will go to the polls on Thursday May 6 to elect two new councillors.
In Hampden Park, the ward seat on Eastbourne Borough Council has been left vacant by the departure of Liberal Democrat Dean Sabri, who stepped down earlier this year due to work commitments.
The Lib Dems are hoping to retain the seat – a long standing stronghold for them – and their candidate is Josh Barbarinde.
Former Lib Dem and Eastbourne deputy mayor Margaret Robinson, who left the party in March 2019 amid allegations she had been bullied, joined the Labour Party and will be fighting the seat for Sir Keir Starmer’s party.
The Conservative candidate is Luke Borland.
In Sovereign ward, the seat has been left vacant after Eastbourne MP Caroline Ansell relinquished her role as a borough councillor.
She was elected a councillor for the area in May 2019 when she was not an MP but since beating Stephen Lloyd and being re-elected to the Houses of Parliament in December 2019, Mrs Ansell said she wanted to focus more on a busy legislative schedule in London.
In a bid to retain the seat the Conservative’s have chosen Kshama Shore.
Flying the flag for the Liberal Democrats in this by-election is Kathy Ballard, a former Conservative councillor and also a deputy mayor who quit the party in 2017.
Louis Thorburn is standing for the Labour Party and Ian Garbutt is the candidate for the UK Independence Party.