Lashley returns to St Philip North

Former Transport Minister Michael Lashley has returned to elective politics in an attempt to take back the St Philip North seat he lost in the 2018 polls, charging that the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate who unseated him has disappointed her constituents.

Lashley on Thursday confirmed rumours that he would run again, when he paid in his deposit to go up against incumbent Dr Sonia Browne in the January 19, 2022 general elections.

The Queen’s Counsel said while he initially had no plan on returning to politics, supporters and several St Philip North constituents had pleaded with him to give it another shot.

“It is my position that the medication that was prescribed by the goodly doctor for the people of St Philip North… has not worked. I don’t care what doses she came with, they still have not worked. I think at this moment, what people are saying is that they have not seen the MP, she is not as easily accessible as they believed she would have been after all the promises and, indeed, is not recognised by [her] party as a heavyweight,” he said.

“For the first time, St Philip North did not have a Cabinet minister… a minister that can do things in St Philip North. I think basically there is a calling and people called me out of my busy practice, and I decided to answer their call,” added Lashley who said he was confident in his chances of re-taking the seat.

He said he hoped to add to the efforts of preserving democracy in Barbados.

“One of the things that I would like to see is the restoring of democracy, the principles of democracy. Should we have 30 seats in Parliament belonging to one party? …. I think we should look at 2018 and really look and see how we should better it and see how we can really protect and preserve democracy in these circumstances,” Lashley said.

In the last elections in which the BLP won all 30 seats in Parliament, Lashley got 35.8 per cent of the vote in the St Philip North race, while Dr Browne garnered 64.2 per cent. (SB)