Labour candidate Melanie Dudley: I'll fulfil Leave voters wishes on Brexit
"I've been saddled with this name all my life, it's about time it got me some benefit."
Few parliamentary candidates can have a moniker as perfect as Melanie Dudley, who has been tasked with holding Dudley North for Labour at next month's general election.
A former assistant chief executive at Sandwell Council, she quit the authority in 2016 saying she had been the victim bullying from a Labour councillor, who was suspended and later found to have broken the council's code of conduct.
Now she is aiming to move into frontline politics in the town where she was born and bred.
"I didn't apply to be a candidate anywhere else. Dudley North made me and I want to help make it into a better place," said Ms Dudley, taking a break from the campaign trail on the town's Priory estate.
Having grown up in Kates Hill and attended Dudley Girls High School, she says she understands the area and has laid out a series of key issues as part of her campaign.
And in a constituency where nearly 70 per cent of people voted to leave the EU, they include fulfilling people's wishes on Brexit.
"The current Brexit deal which has been negotiated by Boris Johnson does not protect workers rights, it does not protect jobs and does not look after the environment," she said.
"We can't have a deal like that. We need a different deal and a better deal.
"The people with Dudley North voted to Leave. If I am elected I will be doing everything I can to fulfil their wishes – but in a way that is most beneficial to the people of Dudley North."
Poverty
Ms Dudley added that Brexit had not been a major topic of discussion with voters on the doorstep, who she said want to see crime under control through putting more police on the streets, and more cash for local schools and Russells Hall hospital.
"Another key area for me is getting rid of poverty," she said.
"There's an awful lot of children who are living in poverty in Dudley North. We need good jobs in the area, we need to give parents a second chance in education so they can get better qualifications.
"We need to do all the things we can to make sure children get the best start in life, such as putting back Sure Start, that would make a tremendous difference to this area."
Ms Dudley, who now lives in Sutton Coldfield, was chosen as the candidate for Dudley North by a selection panel from an all-woman shortlist.
She faces a key battle to retain a marginal seat that has been earmarked as a major target for the Tories.
The seat has been represented by Ian Austin since 2005, who quit Labour in February in opposition to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and has since called on voters to back the Tories.
Ms Dudley would not be drawn on Mr Austin's criticism of Mr Corbyn, saying: "What I will say is that the people of Dudley North need a party that is going to put money into health and education and will help people who are on less than billions of pounds a year.
"It needs a party that will help the ordinary working person, and that's not the Conservative Party. Their policies are all about making the rich richer."
Asked if she was a supporter of Mr Corbyn, she said: "I would describe myself as a Labour Party supporter who really wants to make society fairer and more equal."
Ms Dudley is up against Conservative Marco Longhi, Lib Dem candidate Ian Flynn, Mike Harrison for the Greens and the Brexit Party's Rupert Lowe.
