My name’s Jonathan Close and I’m standing as your local Reform UK candidate for Lancashire County Council on Thursday 1st May.

Full statement

To introduce myself; I’m 41 years old, was born and raised in Chorley, and I’ve lived here nearly my whole life. I have a young family and currently run a software and IT company that’s based in Bolton.

Like so many, I am completely fed up with the state of politics in this country. Our two-party system is broken and no longer caters to ordinary hardworking people. A fresh approach is urgently needed. We cannot continue to elect hundreds of career politicians to Westminster that do not understand or care about the issues we face.

At a local level I believe Lancashire County Council urgently needs reform. Freedom of Information requests by Reform UK have revealed huge levels of debt, eye-watering interest payments, wasteful spending on pointless projects, huge unjustified salaries for Council bosses, DEI officers, rip-off and badly negotiated long-term contracts (including for pothole repair) and spending on green initiatives with dubious scientific value. Reform UK will cut this waste to improve services and freeze your council tax bills. Please see my web page for more information on local policies.

Overall, Reform UK have 84 honest, decent, caring and hardworking people like me standing in all districts of Lancashire. We are highly motivated, serious, and aim to prove to the people of the north-west that we can ultimately change Lancashire and this country for the better.

Please do not underestimate how crucial the elections on 1st May are in the journey for national change. We need local councillors in office to give us a strong platform to challenge the next General Election. Whether you usually vote at local elections or not, I ask that you please do so on 1st May and support us. I believe the future of our country now depends on it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. If you’d like to learn more about my background, political views or local policies please visit my web page or email me personally on jon.close@reformukchorley.co.uk