Ngai Tahu manager James Caygill, the son of former Labour finance minister David Caygill, has thrown his hat in the ring for the Christchurch East seat and in the process taken a swipe at his main rival.





Caygill, 35, yesterday confirmed he would seek Labour’s nomination for the seat to be left vacant by Christchurch mayoral hopeful Lianne Dalziel, saying he represented ‘‘renewal’’ for the party – a clear comparison with list MP Clayton Cosgrove who is tipped to stand but has so far refused to confirm or deny that.





Cosgrove, who lost the Waimakariri seat to National’s Kate Wilkinson in 2011, is seen as to the right of Labour and his election would clear the way for the next candidate on its party list, Northland-based Kelvin Davis, to return to Parliament.





Caygill yesterday described himself as ‘‘reasonably Left-wing’’. He was the chair of the environment sector and ‘‘you won’t find me disagreeing with our stances on social policy or individual rights or the fact that we need to build a more sustainable economy’’.





He said the Christchurch East race was ‘‘a Labour nomination process so it will be robust’’.





But it was important for Labour to use the opportunity for renewal and to look to the next generation.





‘‘Clayton’s a sitting MP and a senior frontbench MP. No-one could dream that counts as renewal. He’s a senior MP and he deserves his shot if that’s what he wants to do but I don’t think he would run under a banner of renewal.’’





Caygill said if he won the nomination he would step down from his role as a senior manager with Ngai Tahu where he is responsible for environmental policy work, regional economic development, education policy, research and development and the iwi’s savings scheme.





"This is going to be a hard fought by-election so you would look to get campaigning as soon as practically possible,’’ he said.





‘‘It’s a seat I have known reasonably well. I grew up in northern Christchurch. It’s a seat that desperately needs strong representation in Parliament, and it has had that through Lianne, and we can’t afford to let that slip.’’





The seat faced several issues, including education reform, a housing crisis, the red-zoning of land and fights with EQC and insurers.

He had a TC3 property – the worst-affected category outside the red zone – and his claim with EQC was on hold as it related to a multi-unit dwelling.





It is understood senior members of the Christchurch East electorate committee favour Caygill over Cosgrove but Dalziel has said she will stay out of the race.





Caygill, who lives in Mairehau just outside the electorate, said his house would likely be inside the new boundary for the 2014 election, although the by-election will be fought on the existing boundaries.





He said his father was ‘‘highly supportive’’ of him following in his footsteps as an MP.