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Maddison Wheeldon’s historic bid for Parliament
ELIZABETH SHORT meets the single mum championing progressive left policies and community solidarity in Warrington North who knows first-hand what it's like to struggle against poverty

THE Commons has never had a woman actively experiencing poverty sit as an MP. So if Maddison Wheeldon gets elected, it will be a historic first.

The single mother of two is standing as an independent for Warrington North. Driven by a determination to hold power to account, Wheeldon was studying law at the University of Manchester during Covid.

But unable to afford her rent, she was forced to drop out. “I was facing a situation where I was having to go to the housing office with my kids in tears because I thought I was going to have to live in my car,” she says.

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