Growing up in the north of England, but now living locally, I witnessed firsthand the hardships that came with the collapse of manufacturing in the UK and the implosive result that this has had on real wages up and down the country especially in coastal towns.

Full statement

I moved to the South East in the late 80s as a young man and developed a career in business that took me overseas where I saw how other countries have done a far better job in managing their societies than we have.

I am a passionate observer of the decline of British culture and the economy. Most notable of which is the collapse of civic pride and the overall decline of standards at all levels of society. Local government is utterly dysfunctional and combined with the incompetence in Westminster since Blair took charge, national decline has accelerated.

Many of the problems of Bexhill and Battle are mirrored across the country and need a fix at the national level. That being said, I am more than aware of the heinous development of North Eye and the lack of social housing in the area – generating a needless homelessness problem.

To add insult to injury is the impossibility of getting GP and dental appointments. Too much money is being frittered away on incompetent NHS bureaucratic failures. Millions are being wasted locally on hiring HR and diversity officers that do nothing but increase waiting lists. Mass immigration is, of course, one of the primary causes of the crisis in both housing and health. Our party will deal with this as the top priority.

Compounding this are the stagnant incomes of law abiding, tax paying citizens of the constituency facing huge cost of living increases. Crime is off the charts, and crime falls hardest on the poorest people. Our police force does nothing to arrest this collapse, too obsessed with enforcing woke ideology that the stupidity of the Human Rights and “Equality” Acts have engendered.

Moving down our long hitlist are the utility companies from rail to gas to water. Executives have been extracting cash for shareholders while remunerating themselves like masters of the universe. I have direct experience with dealing with overcompensated boards, ousting their ineffective members. Recently the area was hit with a 3-day outage of water, while I am astounded by the level of flooding that still persists in the area. The lack of accountability is mind blowing.

Education is yet another catastrophe to add to the litany of failures of successive governments. Good school places are hard to guarantee in the area as well as a clear fall in academic standards: the DfE does nothing to address the insane progressive ideologies that they have allowed into classrooms at the expense of the 3 R’s.

If you agree with any or all the above and want to see REAL change, please lend me your vote. Better still, if you have the time and money, consider joining Reform UK. We are a small party and lack the resources and infrastructure that the big two failures have built up over decades. Level the playing field and have a true voice of knowledge and integrity as your MP for Bexhill and Battle!