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<\/p>\nNewly minted Labour MP Sarah Edwards was today celebrating a spectacular win in the Tamworth by-election – but may now have a difficult decision on her hands.<\/p>\n
The former union official, who overturned a near 20,000-vote Conservative majority in the Staffordshire seat, claims she lives locally but still owns a home in a leafy suburb 25 miles away.<\/p>\n
Ms Edwards only recently started renting out a flat in Tamworth, despite putting the address on her nomination form and telling voters online that she is based in the Staffordshire constituency.<\/p>\n
And residents living near the property – in a converted office near the town centre – said last month that they had never seen her in town.<\/p>\n
Sylvia O’Sullivan, 85, who lives across the road, said: ‘Until recently those buildings were offices for an alarm company. It relocated and they were developed.<\/p>\n
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Sarah Edwards,\u00a0who overturned a near 20,000-vote Conservative majority in Tamworth, claims she lives locally but still owns a home in a leafy suburb 25 miles away<\/p>\n
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Ms Edwards arrives to vote in Tamworth with her dog Poykee<\/p>\n
‘I think one of them is an Airbnb because you see people with suitcases arriving and the other two properties are flats.<\/p>\n
‘A number of people, maybe six, live in each. I have never seen her there. She may have moved in but I have not seen her.’<\/p>\n
Neighbour Paige Lewis-Baggott, 29, said: ‘I think I saw her in the town centre canvassing but I had no idea she lived around here.<\/p>\n
‘Maybe she has rented it to be closer to Tamworth for the by-election. The flats were finished earlier this year and I know they are quite big.’<\/p>\n
Sipping wine in a caf\u00e9 bar yards away, housewife Lacey Prosser, 46, was more cynical.<\/p>\n
‘It’s not the sort of place a woman with some money would live,’ she said. ‘I don’t believe that’s her normal address. It’s typical Labour – always false, always pretending, nothing real about them.’<\/p>\n
A woman who quizzed Ms Edwards on Facebook about her living arrangements was told by the candidate that she lived in Tamworth.<\/p>\n
When the woman followed up to query the response, because ‘what I’m hearing and reading is you live in Birmingham’, she received the same response.<\/p>\n
But Ms Edwards has in fact long lived in the Birmingham suburb of Moseley, a 45-minute drive away, and only began renting the Tamworth flat earlier this month.<\/p>\n
According to the website of a local charity where she is a trustee, ‘Sarah was born and grew up in Moseley’ and studied in London then ‘moved back to Moseley to start in her current position at Unite the Union in 2012’.<\/p>\n
Land Registry records show she is the sole owner of an Edwardian house in Moseley, which she bought in 2021 for \u00a3400,000 without a mortgage.<\/p>\n
The redbrick property is currently covered in scaffolding and one neighbour said: ‘She’s still living there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘She’s currently getting some help with some renovations, but she told me she’d be very busy until for the duration of the campaign.’<\/p>\n
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The Labour leader moved straight on to celebrate with Ms Edwards in Tamworth<\/p>\n
Another nearby resident said: ‘I know she’s very busy – she’s working her socks off and burning the candle at both ends.<\/p>\n
‘She’s still living there, although I’ve not seen her this week. I have seen her father call around though. She’s a lovely neighbour.’<\/p>\n
The Tamworth by-election, triggered by the resignation of disgraced former Tory minister Chris Pincher, saw Ms Edwards beat Tory rival Andrew Cooper by a majority of 1,316 votes.<\/p>\n
The new MP graduated in Spatial Design from Central Saint Martins in London in 2010 and worked for Oxfam on fundraising and events from 2010 to 2012.<\/p>\n
She then returned to Moseley to work as an organiser for Unite the Union. Her father was an English teacher and her mother and brother work in the NHS<\/p>\n
A Labour Party spokesman said previously: ‘Sarah Edwards is offering a fresh start for Tamworth as a hard-working, full-time MP. She lives in the constituency. She rents a flat, pays council tax and is registered to vote here in Tamworth.<\/p>\n
‘Sarah’s day job as a union organiser has meant for many years she has spent a lot of time working in and around Tamworth. Like many who live in Tamworth, Sarah grew up in Birmingham before moving here. She is a full-time Tamworth resident and moved to Tamworth before the by-election was called.<\/p>\n
‘Whatever the result of the by-election, Sarah will continue to live in Tamworth, and she hopes to do so as a member of parliament who will turn the page on the Tory sleaze and scandal of recent years.’<\/p>\n
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