Debbie ready for by-election battle

LABOUR overlooked two former Oldham Mayors when they selected a Newhey woman to fight the hotly contested by-election.

Debbie Abrahams was chosen ahead of Riaz Ahmad and Abdul Jabbar as the party attempts to hold on to the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat in a battle which will come under the national spotlight.

The 45-year-old public health consultant will be the red-hot favourite to win the poll, which is expected to take place on February 3, 2011.

She said: “I’m absolutely delighted. We had two very experienced candidates and it was an absolute privilege to be selected.

“I’m absolutely committed to fairness and social justice and what we have seen from the coalition government is anything but fairness.”

Mrs Abrahams is looking to replace shamed former Labour MP Phil Woolas, who was stripped of the seat by judges for deliberately lying about Lib-Dem opponent Elwyn Watkins in election leaflets.

Mrs Abrahams is hoping to consign the scandal to history.

She added: “Mr Woolas paid a very high price in terms of what happened to him. He was a good constituency MP but the party had to abide by the decision of the courts. I’m looking to move forward and retain the seat.”

Eighty applicants were whittled down by Labour’s governing body to three candidates with Mrs Abrahams chosen by local party members in a private vote — described as tight by Labour sources — at the Queen Elizabeth Hall yesterday.

Mr Ahmad, an accountant, was an Oldham councillor for 16 years and is chairman of NHS Oldham, while Mr Jabbar is a councillor for Coldhurst. Both have served as Mayor of Oldham.

Mrs Abrahams, Sheffield born and bred, played down the fact that she lives outside the borough, having been a Newhey resident for 24 years.

She said: “It’s only just outside the constituency and used to be part of this constituency until this year. I know Oldham well and the people. It’s one of my town centres of shopping choice.”

A former chairman of Rochdale PCT, she said she had been involved in the creation of Oldham’s Integrated Care Centre and involved in Oldham Drug and Alcohol Action Team.

The mother-of-two lost the Labour seat of Colne Valley to the Tories in May when she finished third.

But she said: “It gave me a lot of campaign experience, which I will apply to this campaign.

“My campaign will be about the Lib-Dems’ broken pledges on tuition fees, VAT and policing.

“This election is in slightly different conditions as we are in a position where promises were made to the constituents and they are being broken and we need to expose this.”

She added that the constituency has a diverse community but she wanted to reassure residents she would listen to all their concerns.

Acknowledging that the country will be watching the eagerly-awaited by-election, she said the ultra-marginal seat was important to Labour and the party was united behind her.

Oldham East and Saddleworth CLP chairman Jill Read said: “With the by-election approaching, I know that Labour now has the best candidate to represent Oldham East and Saddleworth in Westminster. Only Labour will stand up for the people in the borough.”

Mrs Abrahams’ husband John is a former captain of Lancashire Cricket Club and currently manages the England Under-19s team.

Candidates who failed to make the shortlist included Oldham councillor John Battye, former Lord Mayor of Manchester Councillor Afzal Khan and Rev Gwenda Manco.

Mr Watkins is standing for the Lib Dems and Paul Nuttall for UKIP, while Kashif Ali is expected to stand again for the Conservatives and BNP leader Nick Griffin for his party.