Growing up in a mining village in Ayrshire I have had a typical working-class upbringing.

Full statement

This has given me a common sense approach to issues and a very practical mind-set. Leaving school at 15 and working many hard physical jobs in my early life including farming, fishing and the building trade has given me a good appreciation of the value of hard work and self-reliance. Later, working in engineering companies such as John Brown focused my ambitions and I now work as a professional engineer after obtaining an engineering degree as a mature student. I was lucky to be old enough not to be indoctrinated with the current anti-British ideology which we so frequently see in these institutions today. I have travelled extensively throughout many countries across the globe over the years. I believe experiencing different cultures has given me a great appreciation of my own culture which I previously took for granted and has imbued me with a willingness to preserve it in the face of creeping global collectivisation. I am a keen hillwalker who has climbed all of our Scottish Munros along with many hills in other places and enjoy swimming on our beautiful beaches on the west coast.

Why did I choose to stand for reform UK?

I am standing for reform UK because I am fed up of our current political class who are simply not interested in doing anything for the benefit of the people in our country. They are continually talking the UK down and during the Brexit negotiations were so visibly weak and made concessions to the European Union over things like our fishing waters and our ability to create our own human rights laws. The three stand out items for me are the reform of our voting system with a PR option, for too long it has been the case that if your preferred party had a low share of the vote in your constituency then your preference of party was not represented in the government which was then elected.

The second item for me is the reform of the House of Lords; this unelected group have been given peerages by governments of the past due to their political leanings, and in this way the policies of these previous governments expressed via the Lords only serves to curtail the ability of the current government to react to the wishes of the electorate. By design, the Lords are always out of step with the current wishes of the British public.

The third item is the reform of the BBC licence fee, As the policy states, “no taxation without representation”, and this fixed cost per household is a far bigger percentage of a low-income household than a high-income household and as such is an undue hardship for many poorer people who don’t have as many alternative forms of entertainment as those who are well off. In my view the elections should not be some sort of talent contest where we vote for whoever comes out with the most entertaining lines. We should be voting for someone who actually wants to do what is right for the people of this country and who will work to implement the policies which are written in their party manifesto. I believe I am that person.