Labour announce candidate for Ludlow
The Labour Party has announced its candidate for the Ludlow constituency for next month's General Election.
Dr Julia Buckley will stand against Conservative Philip Dunne who will defend his seat.
Dr Buckley has over 20 years’ policy development experience, and currently works at Wolverhampton City Council as a funding officer, writing applications that have secured vital and substantial support for community groups, businesses and public services.
While working as a project manager for a regional-wide project, she delivered capacity building for 1000 organisations across the West Midlands to help community organisations and businesses access over £60M funding to develop their work.
Alongside this, Julia received a scholarship to conduct her PhD research in political institutions, which she completed in 2004, before lecturing in politics at the Universities of Nottingham and Wolverhampton.
Julia is deeply committed to her community in Shropshire, where she lives with her husband and two young children. She feels very strongly about protecting services here for the young, old and vulnerable. She wants to use her experience and skills to bring funding into Shropshire to keep important services open, and where appropriate, to modernise delivery.
She has been campaigning to keep the local maternity unit open, and to ensure the nearest A&E at Telford is not downgraded.
On her selection Julia said: “I decided to stand for election because of my deep concern about the impact of Tory cuts and mismanagement on local communities. I am focused and energetic and my experience shows me that fresh thinking combined with hard-working competence can secure our services for the future”.
“Like most people I think I had become detached from all the dramatic political decisions we watch passively on the TV. But last year, I saw my friend Jo Cox killed because she stood up for what she felt was important – if unfashionable – because she was determined to make a difference. That devastating day mobilized me into action. Now I am determined to stand up and protect ordinary people from the brutal cuts proposed under the Conservative’s austerity plans.”
