Hammersmith - The Candidates

Hammersmith

Six candidates are to contest the Hammersmith constituency in the 8 June General Election.

The principal candidates are local councillor Charlie Dewhirst for the Conservatives and Andy Slaughter for Labour, making this contest something of a re-match of 2015, as these are the same two candidates that faced one another in the last General Election. They are also the only two with a serious chance of winning the seat.

The other candidates are Jack Bovill for UKIP, Jagdeosingh Hauzaree, an Independent,  Alex Horn for the Greens, and Joyce Onstad for the Liberal Democrats.

Andy Slaughter

On the face of it, Andy Slaughter looks like a tough candidate to beat.  He is a popular local MP who is very visible in the constituency.  In 2015 Slaughter doubled his majority, bucking a national swing against Labour.  Charlie Dewhirst also did well, increasing the Conservative share of the vote, but not by nearly enough to win.

This year the Conservatives will be looking for a major swing against Labour, hoping that Labour voters disenchanted with Jeremy Corbyn's leadership will be either voting Conservative or perhaps switching back to the Lib Dems.

Charlie Dewhirst

After all, the big story in the 2015 was the collapse in the Lib Dem vote, from 7,567 votes in 2010 to just 2,224 in 2015. If 5,000 voters switched from Labour back to the LibDems, the Conservatives could win the day.

All polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm. There is still time to register to vote before the deadline of 22 May.

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