A pharmacist has been shortlisted to become Labour’s candidate for North Somerset in the general election.

Sadik Al-Hassan (pictured), who is the superintendent pharmacist at the online pharmacy PillTime, told Independent Community Pharmacist he wanted to run for election to push the case for “rebuilding” the NHS “after 14 years of Tory decline.”

He revealed he has been shortlisted with one other candidate and North Somerset Labour Party confirmed to ICP that it is Adrian Dunkley, North Somerset Labour Party’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic officer. If Al-Hassan is selected by the party’s members to be their parliamentary candidate, he will go up against Liam Fox, who has held the seat for the Conservatives since 1992.

Al-Hassan said his candidacy will help “promote the profile of pharmacy and its involvement in politics to fight for change that our patients need.” Labour will announce its parliamentary candidate for North Somerset after the local elections on May 2.

“As a pharmacist, I believe strongly in serving our communities. After 14 years of Tory decline, we need an MP who will put people first,” Al-Hassan said.

“In parliament, I’ll be a strong advocate for rebuilding our NHS, which has been systematically failed by the Conservatives. I’m standing to restore hope to all our communities in North Somerset that things can be better, and will, under Labour.”

Al-Hassan is no stranger to politics. He spent five years as a local councillor and was the European parliamentary candidate for the South-West in 2019. He was a Company Chemists’ Association representative on Avon local pharmaceutical committee between August 2014 and April 2022 and Devon LPC from December 2013 until June 2015.

He worked at Well Pharmacy for over seven years, spending about 18 months as area operations manager where he overseaw 12 branches and was a pharmacist branch manager at the Co-operative Pharmacy between February 2012 and August 2014. Al-Hassan was also a store manager at Boots for over three-and-a-half years in the Wirral.

Last month, he started a petition for a pharmacy to open in Portishead after the town’s branch of Boots closed.