My name is Patrick Seargeant, and I am your Reform UK Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency.

Full statement

I was born in James Cook Hospital in 1998, that have therefore spent my entire life experiencing the slow, painful decline of both my country and my hometown at the hands of successive corrupt, incompetent and malevolent administrations. The great country described in the pages of history books and remembered fondly by elderly family members seems to exist only in another reality, in contrast to the defeated and demoralised nation we find ourselves in today.

Teesside has been in many ways the perfect example of this decline. All my life I have heard the non-stop, desolate droning of Labour politicians complaining endlessly about the neglect and mistreatment of our area, and how everything is the fault of someone else – whether it be the spectre of the Tories in Westminster, or anyone who dares to challenge their grip on power. While there may be a kernel of truth to the idea that the majority of Westminster politicians couldn’t care less about the fate of the former industrial heartlands, far more damaging has been the outrageous incompetence and corruption of the Labour administrations that have run our town into the ground, and who seem to actively oppose any attempts to truly transform it for fear of losing their ‘grim up North’ sacred cow.

It does not have to be this way. I have lived in a number of places around the country, and have seen what success and regeneration look like. There is no reason why Middlesbrough could not have its own Regent Street, Grey Street, or King’s Parade. As the children of Ironopolis, the descendants of those whose toil helped build some of the finest structures in the world, there is no reason why we can’t rebuild the Infant Hercules once again, and have a town (or even dare to hope for a city) that we can showcase to the world with pride. This is exactly what I thought I was voting for when I reluctantly cast my ballot for a Tory party promising the world in 2019 – only to be cruelly reminded of the treachery of that malicious organisation after as little as 12 months.

That is why I am running for parliament. The people ripping this country apart will not be around for long enough to see the consequences of their malice – but this is my home, and I don’t have that luxury. As Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, I hope to use my varied career experience in education, engineering, and business management, as well as my academic experience at both Durham and Cambridge Universities, to lift up the people of both Middlesbrough and Britain as a whole, and to help build a hometown and country that we can look on with genuine pride.