Former student chosen as prospective Labour candidate for Leamington

Former Warwick student, Councillor Dr Lynnette Kelly, has beaten opposition to become Warwick and Leamington Spa’s next Prospective Parliamentary Labour Candidate.

Party members selected Dr Kelly, who has been a senior Labour councillor for Coventry City Council since 2004, on Saturday 15th September.

Dr Kelly’s priority is reducing youth unemployment in Warwick and Leamington following a 175 percent increase in the last year. She aims to “ensure that young people have the skills and opportunities that they need to find work.”

She also criticises the “double whammy” of ending Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and the rise in tuition fees to an upper limit of £9,000 for home and EU students.

Dr Kelly’s research at Warwick University included work on community cohesion, the employment of refugees and ethnic minorities, methodologies of researching refugee populations, and most recently on health rights and homeless families.

She says that her time at Warwick “immensely influenced” her decision to enter into the world of politics.

“I enjoyed my PhD and felt that the work I did was valuable, but the more research I did, the more I realised that all too often the government simply chose to ignore it! I felt that it was time to stop ignoring important findings and act.”

Dr Kelly is also a board member of the Local Enterprise Partnership for Coventry and Warwickshire, which seeks to make Coventry & Warwickshire a great place to start a business.

It is therefore not surprising to learn that her political focus lies with the young, particularly in terms of their employability and educational opportunities.

“I have four kids so I am acutely aware of the problems young people face. Ed Miliband’s recent Conference speech about the ‘Forgotten 50%’ of young people who do not go to university was inspiring. It hit the nail on the head – education needs to be suitable for everyone.”

The candidate openly criticised the opposition for failing to meet the needs of young people in the constituency, citing the 175 percent increase in youth unemployment, the “ridiculous” rise in tuition fees and the abolition of the Educational Maintenance Allowance as examples.

Dr Kelly has big plans for the constituency. She wants to see more young people stay in the area after completing their degrees and hopes that initiatives including the introduction of a pooling system for apprentices and a minimum wage for interns will encourage students to do so.

“Advantaged students are doubly advantaged in a recession”, said Kelly.

“It always comes back to the question of how do you get a job without experience, and how do you get experience without contacts or money? I want to see a minimum wage introduced for interns so everyone has access to work experience and employment,” she added.

Constituency Chair John Barrott said that, although the contest between the two main candidates was close, he was “in no doubt that she [Dr Kelly] is the right person to regain the seat back from the Tories.”

The constituency is currently represented by the Conservative MP Chris White, who defeated the area’s Labour MP, James Plaskitt, in 2010.