Voters in Blackpool South will head to the polls on 2 May to elect their next MP.
We asked seven of the nine candidates who attended to briefly describe their policies. Two other candidates, Howling Laud Hope of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and Damon Sharp, New Open Non-Political Organised Leadership Party, did not attend.
We asked seven of the nine candidates who attended to briefly describe their policies. Two other candidates, Howling Laud Hope of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and Damon Sharp, New Open Non-Political Organised Leadership Party, did not attend.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Voters in Blackpool South will head to the polls on the 2nd of May to elect their next MP.
00:07Scott Benton resigned from his position as an independent MP after suspension from the Commons over his involvement in a lobbying scandal.
00:16The by-election will take place on the 2nd of May, but before that, hundreds of people attended Blackpool Cricket Club to hear from the candidates standing.
00:25We asked seven of the nine candidates who attended to briefly describe their policies.
00:30Two other candidates, Howling Lord Hope of the official Monster Raving Loony Party, and Damon Sharp from the new open Non-Political Organised Leadership Party, did not attend.
00:40Hi, I'm David Jones, I'm your Conservative Party candidate for the Blackpool South by-election.
00:46My top three items or agenda is to get Blackpool Airport open again for commercial flights, continue the investment into the NHS, look at the £28 million that we've had already there into Blackpool Victoria, into the A&E village, and also to stop the development on Stanley Park.
01:03So we need the green spaces and we need to be able to enjoy those as a community.
01:09Hello, my name's Mark Butcher and I'm running for the Reform Party UK for Blackpool South.
01:15My top three priorities for Blackpool are health and wellbeing, housing, affordable housing, and jobs and young people. Those are my three priorities.
01:27In 20 seconds, my pitch would be, vote for Mark Butcher if you want to see hard-working, honest people back in politics.
01:37Hi, so I'm Kim Knight for the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom. We are all independents working under the same umbrella for the benefit of all the constituents. In actual fact, we work for the constituents and those alone.
01:50My top three priorities are the NHS in Blackpool, which is absolutely diabolical, the regeneration of Waterloo Road and Bond Street, and also to reform universal credit so that young people can work and be paid well for what they do.
02:11Hi, I'm Chris Webb. I'm the Labour candidate for the upcoming Blackpool South by-election. I'm Blackpool born and bred, and my key priorities are tackling the cost of living crisis, tackling and solving the crime and antisocial behaviour that's plaguing our streets, and it's about creating new, well-paid jobs for young and old people in our town.
02:31Every day when I'm out on the doorstep, local residents are telling me they've lost trust in politicians after the actions of our former MP and after 14 years of this government. For me, it's about rebuilding that trust, being an active and visible presence on our street and showing that people can get access to their Member of Parliament whenever they need it.
02:52My name is Ben Thomas. I'm running for the Green Party in the Blackpool South by-election, and my top three priorities are housing, healthcare and tackling deprivation.
03:01Hi, I'm Stephen Black. I'm Blackpool born. I'm 56. I ran my father's fabric shop from 1997 to 2019. A lot of my ideas have come from working in the shop. I think the problem we have now is politics is confrontational, and the people on the losing side don't contribute to the society afterwards. So I think that's why the group's called Friends of Blackpool. It's the idea to get all people working together.
03:28My top three priorities are, is not to have a situation where we kiss a baby and then you don't see us again for three or four years. So my top priority is continuous community voting on all issues by the community on any issue you decide. And when I'm your MP in Parliament, I will propose those questions to whoever, whether it's the Council, the Parliament or international world bodies.
03:54The problem we have nowadays is a bit of a civil war going on between the roundheads of the people and the cavaliers now of the big businesses. And they're so remote, we've got to reach these people and tell them we've had enough. So if you want to do group actions by paying in cash or by doing go-slows to get the prices down, I'm all for that if that's what you want, and we'll get it across the country and beyond. Thank you very much.
04:19Thank you very much.
04:49Thank you very much.