Ash is an HGV driver by trade and has been in the transport industry for nearly 10 years, along with some agricultural contracting in his younger years.

Full statement

He has lived in the North Dorset area for most of his life and currently lives in Sturminster Newton. Several times he has left the area either for education or for work purposes abroad, including driving road trains in Australia. He feels that now is the time to enter the political sphere, unfortunately mostly due to anger.

He feels let down by 13 years of Labour's fiscal irresponsibility, followed by 14 years of absolute toxic Tory chaos and lies.... with nothing more than one big game of hot potato amongst its top brass in recent years to show for it!

How is it that any taxpayer can justify going to work to fund hotel rooms for people who have entered our country illegally? How has our country got 20 million people on the waiting list for our NHS? (Yes, its 20 million!) Not 7.7 million people as the Tories keep claiming! How have we allowed ourselves to fall into £2.5 trillion of national debt? Why has the economy been stagnant for the last 15 years? Why do we keep sending British taxpayers' money which we all have no say in to support foreign governments to fight other governments' proxy wars? Why is everyone being punished for having clean air?

Why do our elderly have to sell their house to fund social care? Where are the 40 new hospitals Britain was promised? Why is there so much rubbish on the sides of our roads? Why are our schools falling down onto our children from aerated concrete? Why are we not investing in our farmers to produce high yields of food production to stop importing expensive foreign food products? Why have we not invested in fibre optic broadband and other digital technologies?

Where is the online protection for children, families and young people against online harms? How can we bring communities together to share our sports, hobbies, clubs and societies? Why has Brexit not been done properly? Why do I need a visa to go on a slightly longer holiday or travel in Europe? Where is the incentive to invest in science, technology and engineering in our area? Why is Britain no longer ready to deploy its armed forces overnight abroad if it had to? What happened to helping our veterans who sleep rough at night having served for their country?

Where is the pride, discipline and respect amongst young people these days? What happened to national service? Why are we dumping sewage multiple times every day into our rivers and seas? Why does everyone's council tax keep rocketing? Why are our farmers not being valued 3 times a day and not being paid properly by the supermarkets?

Why are the pension systems not reformed to match those similar to European countries? Where have family values gone with lack of support for free childcare? Why is it impossible to freely trade and set up a new business without getting hammered for corporation tax and business rates? Where is the incentive to go and do an honest days' work? Why do young people have no hope of being able to afford their own home?

Why is the social housing waiting list currently sat at 1.6 million people? Why do people get stung with capital gains tax having worked hard their whole life for their cash and assets? Why do people not have spare cash or savings anymore? Why are we in a cost-of-living crisis? How can young people afford £9,250 per year to go to university?

Why have the roads not been re-surfaced with fresh tarmac? Why are people choosing over whether to heat their home or put hot food on the table? Why are my energy bills so expensive? Why are people relying on food banks? Where is the drive to upskill Britain and get more people trade qualified? Why are children being taught its acceptable to have a sex change under the age of 18?

Why do we have such social regional inequality across Britain? Why are transport links between our villages and towns so minimal? Where is the proper help that our vulnerable elderly and disabled so desperately need? Why has the education syllabus not been overhauled to teach our young essential life skills, e.g. cooking, driving, swimming, home economics etc.? Why have we not overhauled the welfare system with a simple 'Universal Basic Income' e.g. citizens wage?

Why do we not have proportional representation? Why do we not have multi-choice referendums allowing the people to decide what happens in our country, not our politicians? Why does it flood every year on cue everywhere in Britain? Where is the spirit to run a successful business and make money?

Why has Britain crumbled?

If you’re starting to get the gist of where I'm coming from with this and if you have had enough of all of the problems too, then perhaps now is the time to look at alternatives to the status quo when voting at this year’s general election....

We live in a democracy! We are free to think, act and speak freely meaning you don’t have to completely agree with everything that any one party is standing for, or for that case agree with anything that anyone says! I do have a vision myself of what the state should look like and how it should operate and be governed. I think we all do. So if you a bright idea and you feel very passionately about something, then make sure your voice is heard!

In a nutshell, we need to clear the debt. We need a new hospital building program. We need a new school building program. We need to scrap university and college tuition fees. We need to pay our medical staff properly and show them respect. We need to educate our young properly. We need to help people get their own house. We need energy security to bring prices down, perhaps with a new publicly owned nuclear energy company. We need food security to bring prices down and support our farmers. We need a road re-surfacing program and a motorist/trucking services re-building program, something I will personally absolutely fight for. We need a new pensions system, perhaps with private investment bonds with taxpayer money.

We need to stimulate the economy for decent public services with 15% corporation tax, scrapping business rates, all new businesses being corporation tax free for the first 2 years, increase the personal tax free allowance from £12,570 to £20,000, change the PAYE tax bands perhaps from 20/40/45 to 15/30/45, move the goal posts for PAYE too putting more money in people's pocket, strip out as much unnecessary red tape as possible, perhaps cap council tax at £50/£100 per month and have a fiscal responsibility enquiry on a local level, bring back the £1,200 energy price cap, the possibility of food stamps for families, smash inflation to as close to 0% as possible helping ease the cost of living, interest rates, mortgages and people's real terms wages.

No immigration = no economy. Too much immigration = pressure on public services, housing and infrastructure. A sensible, legal and safe 1-in 1-out approach to migration policy will help get the economy up and running and keep the population at a fairly sensible level. A strong hard working upskilled productive workforce is what Britain needs! A strong economy needs certain levers to be pulled and it’s not an overnight thing! It takes time to build a healthy strong economy! And after a hard long weeks' work, what’s wrong with a beer and a smoke on your weekend off? I have no problem with it, but that's just my own personal opinion. Maybe we may need legislation for that too!

Whatever we need, we need change.... and we need it now! So, make sure you vote for it! Put on your British redcoat and have some pride! See you all in battle at the general election! Thank you and God bless the Westcountry!

Vote Reform UK!