General election: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole figures react

Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday, May 22, the country would go to the polls on July 4.

In Christchurch, incumbent MP Sir Christopher Chope said the announcement was ‘a bit of a surprise’, but he had been arguing for an earlier election.

This, he told the Daily Echo, was in the national interest with the US presidential elections set to take place in the autumn with ‘Putin on the march against Ukraine’.

Joanna Howard is set to run against Sir Christopher as Labour’s candidate for the constituency.

“It is time for change and I will do all I can to bring that change in Christchurch,” she said.

“Christchurch and East Dorset is a great area and has so much to offer, but it has been let down by more than a decade of neglect by successive Conservative governments.

“Christchurch is facing down the culmination of the cost-of-living crisis, the climate crisis and a crisis in our public services.”

Labour’s candidate for Bournemouth East, Tom Hayes, held his first election rally in Pokesdown on Wednesday evening.

He said the announcement ‘feels like a moment that Bournemouth and our country needs’.

“I have never in my years as a Labour candidate seen such an overwhelming number of people who want change,” Tom said.

“I'm feeling positive about taking that plan to the public and hopefully winning their trust and their support to be their first ever Labour MP in Bournemouth East.”

The Green Party candidate for the constituency has been announced as current councillor Joe Salmon.

“I believe we all want to see corrupt money thrown out of politics and the return of truly effective public services,” he said.

“This cannot be delivered by Labour or the Tories because both are beholden to the billionaires who fund them and control our news media. Only by removing these puppet politicians can we hope to address the urgent problems we face.”

Incumbent Bournemouth West MP, Conor Burns, said he too was surprised at the announcement, but said it was time the country ‘had their say’.

“I'm a local resident embedded in the community who is proud and humbled to serve the people of Bournemouth West as their member of parliament, and I will be asking them in humility for the opportunity to continue to serve them,” Sir Conor said.

Labour candidate for Bournemouth West, Jessica Toale, said ‘it’s time for change’.

“I am proud to be Labour’s candidate in Bournemouth West. Bournemouth is a fantastic place. I have great memories of it as a safe, clean and thriving place. Our community deserves better than the past 14 years of decline under the Conservatives,” Jessica said.

In Poole, MP Sir Robert Syms said he believes the campaigns will ‘change the mood of the nation’.

“I'm optimistic that we will win Poole,” Sir Robert said.

“The more challenging thing is to get enough seats in the country to form government, we've got a lot of ground to make up over five or six weeks. But the 2017 election proved that sometimes things move, and so we will see.”

In Mid-Dorset and North Poole, minster Michael Tomlinson will be up against current Lib Dem BCP Council leader Vikki Slade.

The incumbent said the prime minister was ‘absolutely right’ to make the ‘courageous decision’ to call the election.

“There’s no doubt that it has been a difficult few years for all of us here in Dorset and Poole,” he said.

“But now that the economy has finally turned a corner, we cannot go back to square one. We refuse to start over. We’ve put in the hard work during the tough times, and now it’s time to secure our future.”