Ex-cricketer Monty Panesar to stand for George Galloway at general election - full list of Greater Manchester candidates

Former England cricketer Monty Panesar has been named among dozens of candidates set to stand for George Galloway's party at the general election. The Rochdale MP has said the Workers Party of Britain intends to field a 'full slate' of candidates across the UK.

So far, 12 parliamentary candidates have been selected to stand in Greater Manchester constituencies. The party has chosen people to contest seats held by Labour in Manchester, Oldham and Stockport, as well as Ashton-under-Lyne where Angela Rayner is the MP.

Workers Party candidates have also been named for two Stockport seats which the Conservatives won at the last general election in 2019. Among the first wave of candidates announced is cricketing legend Mr Panesar who has been selected for a west London seat.

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Speaking to LBC ahead of the announcement on Tuesday (April 30), Mr Galloway said: "I'm going to present 200 of them outside Parliament this afternoon including Monty Panesar, the ace Indian cricketer - former England international cricketer - who'll be our candidate in Southall. We've got a former Conservative UKIP member of Parliament - member of the European Parliament I should say.

"So people left, right and centre are rejecting the tweedledee, tweedledum politics. Some of them are very, very interesting indeed.

"Monty, of course, was a great left-arm spinner and so we could with him."

Days after winning the Rochdale by-election in February, Mr Galloway issued a warning to Greater Manchester MPs on his first day back in Parliament. The former Labour MP said that his party would field candidates or support independents to stand in several seats.

He highlighted