I'm now retired, but effectively had two careers.

Full statement

For the first half I worked in metallurgy, often with high temperature materials such as tungsten and molybdenum. I changed careers after predatory pricing from China deliberately destroyed that industry in the UK. I then worked in IT, first for a major software company and then for the world's leading cyber security company. There I found the UK's companies are constantly attacked by states such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. There are countries out there actively hostile to the UK – we need to recognize that.

I have also watched the UK change beyond recognition. Successive governments have become increasingly divorced from what the bulk of the UK wants. Both Labour and the Tories have lived well beyond the country's means, piling up debt it will take a generation to reduce. We have mortgaged our future by spending hundreds of millions of pounds a day we don't have.

The second issue is mass immigration. The UK has a long and proud tradition of offering political asylum. Until 2004, this was 50,000 a year – a level the country could easily accept. Now, because of Labour and the Tories allowing a mass of economic migrants in, it's many hundreds of thousands annually. The 2021 census (see https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/sources/census_2021) gives the country of birth of English residents. 6.6% are from the EU, 2.8% from Africa, 5.7% from the Middle East and Asia and 1.4% from the Caribbean. Nearly 17% - about one in six people in England were not born here. That's a level of economic migration (people coming here for a better standard of living) that the country cannot sustain.

It's time to put in place a government that respects the wishes of the silent majority. That means managing the public finances the same way you manage your household finances – by avoiding piling up debt. It also means cutting back the level of immigration to a level the country can sustain. And the only government that will do that is a Reform government. Voting Reform in these local elections is the first step towards that.

Phil wells