Green party man will not fight seat
The man who fought for the Greens in the Norwich North by-election last July said he will not be fighting the seat again when the country goes to the polls this year.
The man who fought for the Greens in the Norwich North by-election last July said he will not be fighting the seat again when the country goes to the polls this year.
Rupert Read has decided not to put his hat in the ring for the seat when the Green Party selects its candidate next Wednesday.
The city councillor finished fifth last year with 3,350 votes weeks after narrowly missing out in the European Parliament elections despite getting the most votes in the Norwich area.
The Greens will among those looking to unseat Conservative Chloe Smith who seized the seat from Labour following sitting MP Ian Gibson's decision to quit after being controversially deselected in the wake of the expenses scandal.
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Dr Read, a University of East Anglia lecturer, who took a year off to concentrate on the Brussels elections, said that there was nothing amiss with his decision not to stand again and that he wanted to help the party campaign in neighbouring Norwich South, where the party believes it has the strongest chance of scoring an upset and winning a seat.
'It's nothing sinister at all,' Dr Read said. 'I did seriously think about running but decided it wasn't in the best interests of myself or the party.'
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'I need to be focussed more on my job. When I ran last year I was still off work after taking a year off to stand in the European elections.
'I thought it would be better to build on what we have achieved and give a chance to somebody else who can give more time to it.'
And he insisted he had not given up the idea of contesting a parliamentary seat.
'While I am not going to be standing in this general election I definitely want to stand again for a Westminster seat in the future.'
Wednesday's selection will see former councillor Jessica Goldfinch going head to head with Thorpe Hamlet councillor Peter Offord, who has recently returned from a trip to Gaza.
The party is also expecting to announce its candidates for three other seats Broadland, Great Yarmouth and South Norfolk on February 4.
