WARRINGTON South’s Tory parliamentary candidate is prepared to ‘fight hard’ for residents – but he admits the Mersey Gateway Bridge tolls controversy needs to be revisited.

Deputy chairman of Warrington Conservatives Andy Carter will battle for the seat at the next general election, as the party aims to bounce back from a shock defeat in the marginal constituency in 2017.

Mr Carter does not consider himself as a typical politician but believes his life as managing director of Smooth Radio, from 2009 to 2014, has helped to equip him with the talents required to represent residents in Westminster.

And he says he hopes to take his skills from radio and communications into the political arena.

Mr Carter, from Lymm, added: “Great radio stations reflect life and to do that you have got to be tuned into your listeners – if you are not tuned into your listeners you won’t succeed.

“One of my big frustrations is that I think politics has got a bit of a disconnect between real people and what goes on in Westminster.

“As somebody who runs a small business that employs people that work hard, I felt that we are not necessarily getting the sort of people that have my background involved in politics.

“I put myself forward because I actually care about what is going on here.”

Former health minister David Mowat suffered a shock defeat in the 2017 general election after losing the seat to Labour’s Faisal Rashid.

But Mr Carter has defended Mr Mowat, who he described as being a ‘really, really good MP’.

He said: “Having spoken to him since then and understood more about the work he was doing, he was fighting hard for Warrington.

“That is something I certainly want to take on.”

Since being selected as Conservative candidate last month, Mr Carter has got straight to work.

Unsurprisingly, he has been met with major concerns over the draft local plan – and claims the council has failed to take the concerns submitted during the preferred development option consultation on board.

He said: “The council don’t seem to have listened to those comments and taken them on board.

“They don’t seem to have applied a real-world realistic assessment of whether that is deliverable or not and that, for me, is one of the frustrations I see in this.

“It is a plan which seems to have so many flaws in it that it doesn’t make sense when you actually read it.”

Education provision for youngsters is also high on Mr Carter’s priority list.

He said: “We have got fantastic schools in Warrington.

“We have seen incredible success in terms of exam results and improvements in those schools.

“One of the commitments I am making is to go into as many schools as possible for however long I am in this role to really understand, from the people that are teaching our children, the issues they are facing.”

Former Chancellor George Osborne pledged that drivers in Warrington and Cheshire West and Chester would have tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge waived ahead of the 2015 general election.

But many of the Warrington's motorists have faced a £1,080 yearly bill to cross the site following a Government U-turn.

It is an issue Mr Carter is certainly aware of and he insists he understands the frustrations of motorists.

He said: “I know they feel let down.

“I think it is an issue which needs to be addressed.

“I think it is something we have to look at.”

However, despite insisting the Government must revisit the issue and ‘look at it carefully’, he did not commit to campaigning for Warrington motorists to get free crossings.

He added: “My gut reaction is to say there are real challenges in Warrington, in terms of getting through the town.

“If it would benefit Warrington then I would want to seriously look at what we could do to help from that perspective.”