My name is James Kendall and I have been announced as a spokesperson for the Reform UK Party in the soon-to-be amended Leeds southwest and Morley.

Full statement

I have been in logistics for over 20 years and meet some amazing people and role models in that time, I've seen the issue small businesses face on a day-to-day basis.

I feel I must stand in my constituency of Leeds southwest and Morley, as this has been my home all my life. From Farnley to Wortley and Morley, I am deeply concerned with the direction those in power are taking this country. This is being felt by me at both a National and Local Level.

I have always been political and deeply caring about the future of my children's lives and their future. I cannot sit back and watch my country and area be ripped apart and uncared for anymore.

Everything day there seems to be another issue:

A fight to get a GP appointment.

To see a nurse.

A shortage of housing and affordable housing.

A shortage of school places in your area forcing you to take your children to school outside your area.

Small business going out of business in our local areas.

The price of fuel, food, and other essentials sky rocketing in price.

Paying more in taxes and you never seem to be any better off, the more you work.

And a battle royale for things that we’ve fought and won already, which should have been nailed in their coffins long ago, like Brexit and the deliberate state of our porous borders.

I feel we are letting down our youth, our small business’s are our back bone, it’s where we all learned the value of work, money, community spirit and pride in our local area, we all had an Auntie Jean who lived on the corner and waved as we went to school, now I don't have a clue who lives on the corner or next door and think because of this we have lost our community spirit and our local identity.