In the lead-up to the General Election on July 4 the Citizen will be running a series of interviews with the seven candidates hoping to be the next MP for North East Cambridgeshire.
Each of the seven: Steve Barclay (Conservative), David Chalmers (Lib Dem), Andrew Crawford (Green), Javeria Hussain (Labour), David Patrick (Independent), Clayton Payne (Workers Party of Britain), and Chris Thornhill (Reform), will be asked a series of the same questions to give voters more of an understanding of themselves and their views.
Here Dave Patrick, a well-known local councillor who is standing as an independent, outlines what has motivated him to stand for election, and what he hopes to achieve should he win the seat next month.
Dave lives in Elm and currently represents the Wisbech Walsoken and Waterlees ward on Fenland District Council.
It has been a few weeks since the election was called – how is your campaign going?
“I’ve been trying to get my message out there so people know there is an alternative to all the political parties, and that I am a local man with a vested interest in this area.
“As an independent I am having to fund everything myself, although I have had one or donations to help with costs and I have also been given some posters for people to put up around the area for me.
“I have organised for 40,000 leaflets to go out to homes across the constituency, it is about 9,000 short, but I think that’s not a bad effort for an independent. Basically, I’m enjoying the ride and doing something totally different.”
Why are you running for MP?
“To be honest somebody planted the seed in my mind and I thought ‘actually what have I got to lose?’ – so here we are. I have been heavily involved in the WisWIN anti-incinerator campaign and I’m hoping by standing I will take a big chunk of votes because of what’s happened with the incinerator.
“It is a very emotive subject. When it was first muted our incumbent MP should have been jumping up and down shouting we don’t want this for our town, it didn’t happen.
“WisWIN tried to be non-political and invited Steve Barclay to attend a meeting when we were first formed, at first he said he would come and then he changed his mind. Now his government has given it the go-ahead.
What will you do for North East Cambridgeshire if elected?
“I don’t have a manifesto as I’m just one person. But I promise I will scrutinise every Bill that comes before the House and look at the benefits it will bring to people. If it will help rather than hinder them then I will support it.
“I will have specialist advisers to help me because I will be new to everything, but I will do my absolute best to do the right thing for North East Cambridgeshire.
“We have housing issues, road issues, lack of health services, a cost of living crisis – so many things, and they all affect us.
“For the past two elections our incumbent MP has promised to deliver Wisbech rail, but we still don’t have that nor is it even looking likely. Transport infra-structure is a major problem, we need better public transport.”
Is it a time for change?
“Absolutely. We have a had a government for the past 14 years who has failed the country. They have the audacity to say it’s in their DNA to cut taxes, but instead we have the highest rates of taxation since the war.
“The NHS is at its wit’s end, there are severe problems with dentistry, waiting lists are longer than ever. Basically we have a government that has time upon time failed to deliver on promises. Where are the 40 new hospitals Boris Johnson promised in 2019? I used to be able to walk across the road from where I lived to the GP surgery and ask for an on-the-day appointment and I would get one.
“Today that is almost impossible. How many serious illnesses have been missed or gotten worse because people have been forced to wait for appointments?
“Gas and electric bills went through the roof, and put people into poverty. The windfall taxes on the large energy companies should have been much higher, why should they be able to make exorbitant profits while people are suffering. The crisis in Ukraine was blamed for the increases, but other countries in Europe managed to weather the storm much better than us. Our government over the past 14 years has miserably failed the people.”
What would your key priorities be?
“As I have already said public transport, housing, improvements roads, and health services. We have a housing crisis here and it is not helped by the loophole in the planning rules that allows developers to submit non-viability reports to get out of providing social housing or helping out with local services through Section106 contributions.
“The list of things this area needs is almost endless, and I promise I will do everything I can to address those issues.
“There is a shortage of doctors, nurses, carers, and teachers, not just here but nationally and we need to do something to address that, maybe by offering some kind of incentives to encourage people to go into those professions. Countries like New Zealand, Australia, and Canada have been poaching our essential workers by offering better lifestyle opportunities, we need to counteract that.”
What are your hopes/expectations for July 4?
“I’m not going to lie, I’m in it to win it, there would be no point in me standing otherwise. If I said anything else then people would probably not bother voting for me as they would think I’m not ambitious or serious enough. I want to be able to do my best for this area.”
What is your final message for voters?
“Get out and vote. Whatever your political stance, that doesn’t matter, but people should vote even if they take the opportunity to spoil their ballot papers by ‘writing none of the above’.
“However, I would like to think my name on the ballot paper is an option they can vote for and still send the message ‘none of the above’.”
In South West Norfolk nine candidates vying for the seat: Terry Jermy (Labour), Pallavi Devulapalli (Green Party), Earl Elvis Of Outwell (Official Monster Raving Loony Party), Josie Ratcliffe (Liberal Democrat), Liz Truss (Conservative), James Bagge (Independent), Lorraine Douglas (Communist), Gary Conway (Heritage) and Tobias McKenzie (Reform).
There are six candidates looking to win the South Holland and The Deepings seat, which covers Long Sutton and Sutton Bridge areas: Sir John Hayes (Conservative), Paul Hilliar (Labour), Jack Braginton (Liberal Democrats), Rhys Baker (Green), Mark Le Sage (Independent), and Matt Swainson (Reform)
