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My Priorities

The UK is experiencing some major challenges.   Sadly these have been exacerbated by the 'austerity' agenda and years of ineffectual governing that's left us woefully unprepared to deal with a fast-changing world. 

 

I will ruthlessly focus on improving how we deliver public services (urgently give teeth to regulators such as Ofwat to make water companies pay for dumping sewage into our waters), modernise our education system to make our children skilled for today's world, kickstart economic growth, overhaul our energy strategy, make the UK a prosperous and safe place to live, but we have to start by getting the basics in place.  We must ruthlessly put measures in place

 

  1. To protect the most vulnerable in our society - that means no more private equity running chilldren's services, establishing water-tight safeguarding measures, investing in signposting, investing in social care and educating the next generation to break the cycle that grips so many.

  2. No longer not being responsible and accountable for the most vulnerable people - including providing a healthy social life for seniors, a multi-pronged strategy to tackling homelesses, addiction and multi-generational unemployment.

  3. A major investment into our police and that includes changing how the police are trained, recruited and monitored. 

 

We have to get our economy moving which means overhauling our public spending system to get the most for taxpayer money.  We are losing endless billions from people not working because they can't get their health issues addressed.  We must get targets back in place and upgrade the technology we use in collaboration with giving public workers responsibilty instead of what we have today which are often clunky, costly IT systems and staff who cannot improve things, but of a broken system.  Unimaginable money has been wasted on track & trace (£37 billion), a failed immigration system (e.g. an Australian travel firm receiving a £1.6bn contract covering the UK’s new asylum accommodation ships), choosing to link approximately 25% of UK government borrowing to inflation (costing records amounts to service this debt which reached an all time high of £19.4 billion in a single month in June 2022).

 

We must find a path to transition away from fossil fuels and to create energy self-sufficiency.  We must support our domestic industries and transportation with clean energy which is at worst financially competitive with other countries.  No more can we be having discussions about whether British people need to decide between heating their homes or feeding themselves.  In 2023 the UK still doesn't have any energy targets whilst for decades countries like China have had 50 year energy outlooks.  Only two small onshore wind turbines were installed in England last year - are you kidding me!?

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“A signficant failure of successive Tory governments has been to hand over taxpayer’s money to private enterprises on long-term, opaque contracts to deliver public services that could be better delivered for less, to a higher standard and by workers on higher-paying, more secure contracts”

Harry Spencer

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My Priorities

Image by Jp Valery

Insourcing & Controlling Costs

  • Testing a for-profit public sector model to compete with private sector outsourcing businesses with a focus on

    • Providing good jobs in the community

    • Providing quality, personal services

    • Getting value for taxpayers

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  • Employing independent, accountable experts to control spending and ensure professional standards are met

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  • Making the spending and dealings of government transparent in order to entice innovation, reduce barriers to entry and lessen the risk of systematic abuses

Image by Hannah Busing

Supporting Communities

  • Delivering a strategy for under-18s

    • We have to tackle violence in the home with a goal to eradicate it within a generation

    • Reforming education to incorporate entrepreneurial, digital, critical thinking, leadership and life skills

    • Protecting our children as a fundamental priority

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  • An unwavering goal to eradicate poverty through

    • A community-wide coordinated approach to ending homelessness

    • Career and business support

    • Creating financial independence

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  • Best in class services across the whole constituency, for instance if one GP surgery has the most efficient system to see patients, then all others will be supported to match that standard

Image by Bill Mead

Tackling Environmental Challenges

  • Reasonably protect Hertsmere's greenbelt and public spaces as well as building more homes with the required supporting infrastructure upgrading public spaces to encourage more outdoor fitness, play and socialising 

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  • Overhauling our refuse and recycling e.g. why is biodegradable waste still appearing in landfill sites?

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  • Modernising our energy infrastructure

    • Centralised drive for renewables

    • Newbuild efficiency standards

    • Ubiquitous EV charge points

    • Retrofitting Council stock

    • Transitioning transportation to electric and support for helping people switch to low polluting vehicles

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