Rochester & Strood: the candidates
With one of the most important local votes of the year just days away, the fight for Rochester and Strood is nearing its climax. The by-election, triggered by Mark Reckless’ defection to UKIP, will see 13 candidates stand. Here, they tell ITV Meridian what they could offer the constituency.
Mike Barker MBE: Independent candidate
Mike Barker does not refer to himself as a politician but as ‘the world leading scientist in bomb disposal’.
His main priority is one of safety. If elected, he claims he would use his influence in parliament to encourage the closing of the Liquefied Natural Gas site on the Isle of Grain and the clearing of the SS Richard Montgomery shipwreck in Sheerness, which he sees as a security threat.
He said: “I could not be ignored in Parliament and would get the authorisation to clear this wreck of its estimated 10,353 bombs that have always been safe to clear with minimal risk.’
Christopher Challis: Independent candidate
Christopher Challis grew up in Strood. He is an accountant and a member of the Federation of Small Businesses.
His main priorities are health and local business. He also has a focus on fixing the deficit and ‘saving the NHS’.
He said: ‘It’s about promoting businesses here and if we can promote businesses we get jobs. If we get jobs we get taxes. If we get taxes we get services. Everybody wins.’
Locally, he wants to promote better housing, commuting services and restoring city status for Rochester. He also wants a ‘safer drugs policy’ for the UK.
Hairy Knorm Davidson: Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate
Hairy Knorm Davidson’s priorities include improving schools by reducing class sizes through ‘sitting children closer together’.
He would also campaign to bring in a 99 pence coin in an effort to help the economy.
He wants all food products to be given a label that says ‘may contain traces of real food’.
Another priority would be defence. He said: ‘we’ll mend defence and install a gate to stop people sitting on the fence.’ He’d also like to install ‘a big mirror in the sky to reflect sunlight down onto solar panels all through the night’ to save energy.
Jayda Fransen: Vote British! Candidate
Jayda Fransen says she is only standing in the election for one reason. She is campaigning prevent the building of what she refers to as a “Mega Mosque” near Rochester. She believes this could be damaging to the local area.
She said: ‘I was contacted by a large number of Medway residents who requested that I stand in this by-election to represent them on this specific issue.’
‘Britain First have led the opposition to this Mega Mosque as we, along with the majority of Medway residents, strongly object to yet another Mega Mosque being built anywhere in the UK.’
Stephen Goldsbrough: Independent candidate
Stephen Goldsbrough is a local businessman and a lay preacher. He wants city status for Rochester. He also wants improved parking for Medway Maritime Hospital and the preservation of green spaces.
Another priority is to convert the disused part of the Pentagon Office Block into a shelter and community hub.
On an international scale, he said: ‘I am proposing a Peace Summit here in Rochester with the Elders … to look at new paths for peace in the Middle East and to highlight the Human rights situation for refugees in Calais.’
Clive Gregory: Green Party candidate
Clive Gregory is a musician who has lived in Hoo for 22 years. He wants to stop what he calls ‘the takeover of politics and politicians by “too big to fail” banks and corporations’.
He said: ‘Reforming the money system is also central to truly tackling climate and pollution issues, poverty and even the perpetual wars.’
He is against the proposed Lodge Hill development on the Hoo Peninsular. His priorities also include improvements at Medway Maritime Hospital through government funding, better management and reversing privatisation.
His is strongly opposed to the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and the US.
Geoff Juby: Liberal Democrat candidate
Geoff Juby says that Rochester and Strood ‘has been sold short for many years with MPs failing to address the real issues confronting ordinary people.’
His priorities include providing homes, for young people in particular, and good quality jobs. He believes the topic of immigration would be a ‘damp squib’ if these issues were resolved.
He said: ‘We are faced with a situation where the Medway City Estate is gridlocked every day and many people are having second thoughts about either working there or locating businesses there.’
He also wants to improve Medway Maritime Hospital, in particular the A&E department, through capital funding.
Naushabah Khan: Labour candidate
Having been brought up in the Medway area and as a current school governor, Naushabah Khan is standing as she sees Labour as the party that can give all children equal opportunities.
She believes that schools in the area are struggling and wants to improve the standard of teaching and learning.
Her campaign has also focused on the NHS; she is against the privatisation of health services.
She is also campaigning to stop the re-location of Strood library as well as the building of the Thames Estuary airport, which she says could have ‘serious economic and environmental repercussions.’
Nick Long: People Before Profit candidate
Nick Long is a housing officer. He wants to improve work prospects and opportunities, particularly for young people.
His focus is on helping ‘young and low paid workers to cope with the rising costs of living and the problem of finding appropriate employment for school and college leavers.’
He wants more affordable housing for buyers and renters and to tackle the problem of empty homes.
Mr Long also supports the renationalisation of rail and bus services. He wants to ensure that councils run their services directly, ensuring services including schools and care homes are not run for profit.
Dave Osborn: Patriotic Socialist Party candidate
Dave Osborn believes he is an alternative to the other candidates, who he sees as too similar to each other.
He said: ‘I stopped voting in elections because I used to feel that the parties on offer were “all the same”. After discovering the Patriotic Socialist Party, however, I finally found a party that I could support and get involved in.’
He would stand for equal opportunities and social equality.
He sees the Patriotic Socialist Party as a radical new movement. They support the protection of the environment and the reformation of monetary policy.
Mark Reckless: UKIP candidate
Mark Reckless was elected as the Conservative MP for Rochester and Strood in the general election of 2010 but defected to UKIP in September this year.
He wants to raise the standards at Medway Maritime Hospital by working with GPs to improve services. He is against the privatisation of the NHS.
He also wants to ensure jobs and opportunities are made available through local investment into Medway. He specifically supports the riverside development at Rochester and plans for a new rail station.
On a national scale, he wants tighter restrictions on immigration and more control over the UK’s borders.
Charlotte Rose: Independent candidate
Charlotte Rose’s focus is on sex education and ‘freedom from control by others on matters of personal choice.’
She is campaigning for equal treatment of all people and for everyone to have the same freedoms.
In particular, she wants respect for disabled and older people in care and their right to ‘sexually diverse activities without discrimination’.
She is also against the criminalisation of sex work and wants it to be better regulated.
Kelly Tolhurst: Conservative candidate
Kelly Tolhurst has lived in Rochester & Strood all her life and has served as a local councillor since 2011.
She wants to improve standards at Medway Maritime Hospital by working with staff and other MPs and government officials to bring it out of special measures.
She also has a focus on crime and wants to ensure a bigger police presence locally, particularly to tackle problems with alcohol.
Nationally, she wants more control over immigration, as she believes it is having a detrimental affect on the local area.
Her priorities also include improving local jobs, housing and the economy.