A PROSPECTIVE parliamentary candidate hoping to become Bournemouth’s first Labour MP has thanked supporters who have helped her pay her rent for another month.

As previously reported Corrie Drew, who was selected by her party to fight the Bournemouth East seat at the next general election, has been crowdfunding for her living costs so she can continue to afford to run her campaign.

She has only been able to work part-time since December while she devotes up to 50 hours a week to Labour. Her most recent crowdfunding appeal, which set a target of £700, has now raised £865.

Ms Drew is planning to set up another fundraising appeal so she can “keep fighting” to win a seat.

“Thank you to everyone for your messages of support and solidarity,” she said on Twitter.

“I’m proud to campaign for equality and a truly representative parliament. I would continue to do so, even if I was handed a winning lottery ticket tomorrow.

“The fact that parliament is dominated by the wealthy, as well as a disproportionately high number of privately educated, older white males, is a matter of shame which needs to be relegated to history.

“Wealth does not equate to ability or to experience. We need politicians with a broad range of life and work experience to truly serve all people.

“I will always stick my neck out for the socialist values I believe in. Politics as usual is not on my agenda, or that of our Labour Party. We need politics for the many, not the rich few.”

Ms Drew, who was chosen as a candidate by her party in May 2018, is calling for all political parties to look at ways they can support prospective MPs who are on lower incomes.

Currently Labour has a bursary scheme for disabled members standing for parliament.

But Ms Drew said more needed to be done to help less wealthy candidates and improve representation in the House of Commons.

“Traditionally seats have been won in parliament by those rich enough to take time to campaign. This has left us with a government of the privileged few. I want more than anything for people to believe that politics is about making a difference for them as opposed to the common perception that it’s a game played by wealthy people in Westminster,” she said previously.

“I would love to know how many people in Dorset who have run for parliament that are renting.”

Ms Drew has listed the priority issues in Bournemouth as rising rents and a lack of council housing.

She has lived and worked in the area since moving from Redditch at the age of eighteen.

The Bournemouth East seat was for many decades held by Conservative David Atkinson until the incumbent, his party colleague Tobias Ellwood MP, took over in 2005. Mr Ellwood increased his vote share in the last general election, gaining 25,221, but then-Labour candidate Mel Semple won 17,284, a rise of more than 10,000 votes on 2015 and the first time the party had ever won more than 10,000 votes in the constituency.