Labour candidate out of the starting blocks

9:27am Thursday 11th October 2007

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PRIME Minister Gordon Brown may have ruled out a snap general election at the weekend - but Basingstoke's Labour candidate was this week up and running.

Funda Pepperell will challenge sitting Conservative MP Maria Miller at the next election, which is not now expected to take place until 2009 at the earliest.

While many people may have been expecting her to be in an election race sooner rather than later, the former teenage sprinter was blaming the media and Conservative Party leader David Cameron for stoking up election fever.

And she gave a perhaps surprising view of events at the recent Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth.

"We weren't even expecting an election," she said. "When I was in Bournemouth, no one was talking about such a thing."

Mrs Pepperell, a married mother-of-one and politics graduate from Southampton Solent University who lives in Southampton, said she was honoured to be selected to stand for Labour in Basingstoke.

The 38-year-old has quit her journalism job to take to the campaign trail full-time, and wasted no time in attacking Mrs Miller and the Conservative-led borough council administration.

"It doesn't look like the politicians have done anything for this town, which is shameful," she said.

Mrs Pepperell claimed Mrs Miller was too concerned about roundabouts and motorway noise and was not representing the town on the social housing, community safety and infrastructure problems that matter to the town.

"I have not seen any serious request to the Government for Basingstoke," she said. "If she said it, a Labour Government would hear it regardless of whether it was Labour or Conservative.

"Why do all these problems exist in Basingstoke? We are not a third world country. This is Britain for goodness sake."

Mrs Pepperell said gang culture - and the associated gun shootings and murders - is on the increase and fears it could come to Basingstoke.

"We can see it's a problem nationally and it's spreading out. I want to make sure Basingstoke stays safe and doesn't get the culture - the nasty gang culture."

Mrs Pepperell wants more competitive sport to occupy young people. Her 12-year-old daughter Grace, for example, hopes to make the 2012 British Olympic swimming team and is training five times a week.

Former Labour council leader Rob Donnelly said: "It's very important to have a candidate who can deal with local issues but have an understanding of the issues affecting our nation. I think more than anyone of the people that came before the selection panel, Funda demonstrated this ability."