Story by Steve Barnard
Burngreave goes to the polls on 5th May, with three separate elections taking place on the same day.
The parliamentary by-election elects the MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough constituency, following the death of Harry Harpham MP. Harry’s widow Gill Furniss has been selected as Labour candidate. She described her nomination as “bitter-sweet”.
The other announced candidates are Shaffaq Mohammed for the Liberal Democrats, Christine Gilligan Kobo for the Green Party, Spencer Pitfield for the Conservatives, Steve Winstone for UKIP, Steve Manion for Yorkshire First and an Independent candidate, Bobby Smith. Labour had a majority of 13,807 in the 2015 General Election.
The local elections elect the councillors who will represent Burngreave in Sheffield City Council. This year all three council seats are up for election due to an electoral review of ward boundaries (although Burngreave ward remains unaltered). That means voters will be able to put their crosses next to three candidates to represent their views in the Council.
The third election is for South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), who is responsible for holding the Chief Constable and police force to account on the public’s behalf.
The PCC oversees how crime is tackled and aims to make sure the police are providing a good service, meeting with the public regularly to produce a police and crime plan that sets out policing priorities, making budget decisions and appointing and dismissing Chief Constables.
To register to vote see the article on page 14.