Luke Charters says he won't take second job if elected as York Outer MP

Labour will be confident that some seats lost in the so-called ‘red wall’ can be won back after many voted Conservative for the first time in 2019 when Boris Johnson was prime minister.

But to form a government, Labour will have to convince people who have been voting Conservative for much longer to switch their allegiances.

One of these seats is York Outer, where Julian Sturdy has been the MP since 2010.

The man looking to end Mr Sturdy’s time as Conservative MP for the area is Luke Charters, a local lad who went to Huntington School - and even named his son after his favourite teacher.

Like Labour’s shadow chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves, Mr Charters studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford before working at the Bank of England.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said when I suggested if he thinks he could be ‘the next Rachel Reeves’ over a coffee at North South Coffee in the Bootham area of York.

With a master’s degree in political science and governance from the University of Chicago and time spent as a councillor in the London borough of Newham, Mr Charters has been spending years setting himself up to enter politics.

He was a candidate in York Outer in 2017 too, losing to Mr Sturdy, when Jeremy Corbyn led the Labour Party.

“We didn’t win that election,” Mr Charters said and is hopeful that under Sir Keir Starmer's leadership things will be different.

“We weren’t fully in touch with people and that’s why I do really think Keir has turned the party around and people see that.

“I’ve really got to know Keir over the last two years.

“He’s really genuine and I just feel we’re more in touch with people and are seen as more economically credible.”

But what does Mr Charters’ stand for?

Well, he has vowed not to take a second job while in Parliament, if he is elected.

According to Mr Sturdy’s register of financial interests, he earns £500 a month on top of his MP salary, which will rise to £91,346 in April.

In this role, he provides administrative support, buys and sells for G E Sturdy and Son, a farming partnership in Wetherby, for no more than four hours a week.

“I’ve been very clear; I will never have a second job," Mr Charters said.

“I could not look voters in the eye and say I’m taking this seriously were I to have a second job.”

That led Mr Charter's to accountability, citing the country's "Victorian" electoral system - first past the post - that means people vote for their local candidates rather than the party as a whole.

While in-step with the opinion of most Labour members, he seems to fall on the opposite side of the fence when it comes to proportional representation.

Last year it was reported in numerous newspapers that Sir Keir has a “longstanding view against proportional representation”.

Smaller parties such as the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Reform UK see it as unfair because although they might get millions of votes, if they don’t win each constituency they return few MPs.

“I do think the system needs to change, but I do like the constituency link," Mr Charters said.

However, he added: “The number one priority has to be the NHS and the cost-of-living before we come to these wider system reforms.”

So, how good of a chance has Labour got of winning in York Outer?

Electoral Calculus and UK Polling Report both predict that Mr Charters will win, unseating Mr Sturdy.

“We’re not taking anything for granted,” Mr Charters said, echoing the Labour leader’s words whenever he is asked about his party’s chances of winning.

The general election date won’t be on May 2, when voters go to the polls to elect councillors and metro mayors, according to Rishi Sunak, the prime minister.

He’s been campaigning for more than two years since he became Labour’s candidate for York Outer, but now there are just months to go until the electorate decides if Mr Charters has done enough to change a 14-year habit of voting Conservative.