I’m Alec McKenzie, and I’m standing as the Restore Britain candidate for Shepshed in the Leicestershire County Council by-election.

Full statement

I have lived in Shepshed for almost all of my life.

My background is a mixture of business, criminology, public service, and the Armed Forces. I’m currently serving as an Army Reservist with the Royal Yeomanry and have been for three and a half years, and I previously served with Leicestershire Police for three.

I’ve decided to run because I don’t like how things are currently being done and want to do things differently with a new, fresh and youthful (ish) approach.

I spent more than ten years running my own businesses and organising events. I currently own a cookie company, a Leicestershire-based business that I’ve built from the ground up. That experience means I understand many of the pressures faced by ordinary businesses and working people, whether that’s rising costs, bureaucracy, transport or simply trying to get things done.

I will tell you what my main focuses will be, but ultimately I want you to tell me what I need to do. I think councillors should be there for the people and not the other way around. I think there’s so much money wasted through layers of bureaucracy and I want to try and change that and run things more efficiently. There is enough money to get things done if things are done right.

I want to see our taxpayer money treated with respect, services delivered properly, our roads and infrastructure looked after and Shepshed’s voice heard clearly at County Hall.

I don’t believe being a councillor should just mean attending meetings and voting. It means being present in the community, speaking to residents and businesses, challenging decisions when necessary and seeing problems through until people get an answer and we get it resolved together.

I have no political experience so my approach is simple. Listen to you, the people, be accessible, work hard and put Shepshed first. A vote for me will be a vote for common sense politics.