General Election 2019: Rutland and Melton candidates' profiles
Voters across the area are set to go to the polls tomorrow (Thursday) to elect the MPs who will represent them for the next five years.
We invited the candidates standing in each of our constituencies to submit a profile outlining why you should cast your vote in their direction. They are listed alphabetically by surname.
Here's what the candidates for the Rutland and Melton constituency had to say:
Alicia Kearns, Conservative Party
It is a huge privilege to stand to be your MP for Rutland and Melton. I could wish for no better upbringing for my son than the stunning market towns and villages we are proud to now call home.
My career has been dedicated to our national security: defeating terror groups to keep our country safe. I understand the threats we face, and as your MP I will work to keep us safe at home and abroad.
I’ve been across Rutland listening to you to understand the issues that really matter. From Cottesmore to Caldecott, Oakham to Uppingham, and Langham to Ryhall, you’ve been clear that my priorities should be:
1. Get Brexit done – I voted to leave and as a democrat I want to uphold the referendum result. I will back Boris’ deal and work to rebuild trust in democracy.
2. Fight for our fair share – rural areas have come second best for too long, I will end rural disadvantage by increasing the Government funding we receive, so we can invest in adult social care, our environment, broadband and our younger people.
3. Invest in our roads – I will improve our roads so we can travel safely and conveniently. I will also protect bus services, tackle speeding and make the A1 safer.
4. Improve our local health services – we should all be able to rely on good health services. I will work to deliver a new GP surgery in Oakham.
5. Stand up for our farmers – we need to reduce the burdens on our hard-pressed farmers. I will champion our food producers and get the Agriculture Bill moving putting food at its heart.
6. Tackle rural crime – I want more police, and a greater focus on protecting rural areas. I’ll equip them to tackle fly-tipping, fraudsters and anti-social behaviour.
On Thursday, I’m asking for your trust, to deliver the things that matter most to us every day: our safety, our health, our environment, the economy, fairness and opportunities for our children. Every day I would repay that trust by being your dedicated voice in Westminster.
Marietta King, UKIP
Why vote for Marietta King?
UKIP still has a task to do. There is widespread disillusion with politics after the mess that the Conservatives have made. But not all parties are the same. That’s why I need you to put your cross in the box for me on December 12.
While the special message from the United Kingdom Independence Party has always been exit from the EU (not from Europe), UKIP also has a full manifesto. It has great common sense policies. Such good policies, in fact, that many of them have been stolen by other parties!
With the referendum providing a resounding vote to leave there was a general feeling that the job was done.
But no, we suspected the establishment would ‘stitch up the result’. And they have. Worse still, the politicians in Westminster are so out of touch with the country at large, that they don’t even realise the strength of feeling their betrayal has caused. Democracy, as we understand it, is dying in front of our eyes.
The country voted to leave. We were promised by the Government that they would honour the result of the vote. They have failed to deliver. We deserve better.
Marietta has been the chairman of Rutland, Melton and Harborough UKIP since 2006. She believes passionately that UKIP is the best political party to support. A genuine party for the people.
Having run a furniture business in Rutland making and supplying quality furniture, Marietta is not just a cabinet maker and a team builder but also a businesswoman who knows the area well.
Marietta is truly concerned that the so-called ‘withdrawal agreement’ (we didn’t vote for an agreement, we voted to leave) if it passes, will be a Brexit in name only. UKIP is needed to guard against cosy arrangements in Westminster.
A vote for Marietta, for UKIP, is a vote to tell the Westminster ‘out of touch’ MPs, of all persuasions, that we will watch them like a hawk.
They must not let us down again.
Vote for Marietta King to be an honourable MP.
Alastair McQuillan, Green Party
I live in Melton Mowbray and work for JD Wetherspoon in Oakham. I grew up in this constituency and know the area and people well. I rely on the same local shops and services as you and your family.
When I first joined the Green Party, the reality of the climate and ecological crisis was nowhere on the news agenda. Now more and more people are waking up to the scale of the challenge we face. I am proud to represent the only party willing to take the bold and courageous action needed to tackle the climate emergency.
Over the past three years, many have lost faith in our political system. Greens recognise the benefits of EU membership for the UK and for our local businesses, farms and community. We will fight for a People’s Vote on Brexit and campaign hard to remain.
The elite Westminster politicians have failed us all on Brexit, only a People’s Vote can break the deadlock and heal the deep divisions in our country.
A decade of austerity has left our schools and NHS starved of funding. I will fight for proper investment in our essential local services.
A Green vote will also do so much to tackle climate change and societal injustice. The key difference between us and the other parties is that we are standing on a manifesto that rejects the economic model that is trashing our planet, hitting our local businesses and fuelling poverty and hunger.
We Greens are proud to be different. We don’t take donations from big business. We are not beholden to vested interests.
It’s time the people of Rutland and Melton were represented by an MP who understands their concerns and who will represent their interests.
A vote for me would be a vote to protect our natural environment, our beautiful countryside and our communities at both local and national level.
More than ever, we need strong, principled Green voices at all levels of government.
Andy Thomas, Labour Party
Voters here have been taken for granted for 27 years. I will take an active interest in your welfare. I’ll open an office very near to the voluntary agencies and find local solicitors willing to work ‘pro bono’. I try to be kind, and will listen. I’m tenacious and determined.
I grew up in a village police station with Ministry of Agriculture posters about potato blight and the Colorado Beetle on the walls. To fight parasites and disease, my father’s duty was to count sheep through the pen into the dip and as a boy I went with him.
I’ve used that determination rehousing families from slum clearance in Salford; fighting racial discrimination in Manchester and London; and working for urban regeneration in Loughborough and Leicester. I will use it for the people of Rutland and Melton.
Your near neighbour from Market Harborough, I understand the issues you and your families face, and know there is so much to do:
* Fighting for local NHS services and keeping our NHS out of private hands;
* Creating real, affordable housing, to rent or buy, such as within the planned St George’s Barracks, and Melton developments;
* Providing proper funding for youth services and putting a SureStart centre in every community;
* Establishing a regular and reliable bus service so that people are no longer trapped in their homes. Tory cuts cause the lowest bus use in the country here. Labour will take bus travel into public ownership and reinstate lost services;
* Repairing the damage caused to education by Tory austerity. Education cuts never heal. Labour will fund schools properly in the future;
* Slaying the universal credit monster that brings poverty and despair.
Farmers face a loss of subsidies from Europe, risking farms turned into farming theme parks and ‘experiences’. I voted Remain but respect the electorate. In the referendum next year Labour will include an option for a better deal to leave, or to remain. Either way, Labour will protect our standards, our reputation, and keep sustainable farming alive.
Don’t tell me it can’t be done. Join me – ‘We’ll do it, like this….’
Carol Weaver, Liberal Democrat
The Liberal Democrats have a wonderful manifesto which you can read online but our country is in a state of emergency and we initially need to prevent Boris Johnson from receiving a parliamentary majority and implementing his backers’ manifesto which could destroy our democracy, lead to a dictatorship and prevent us mitigating climate change.
Johnson already has the powers to delay the Russia report from being published and to delay police investigations into allegations of his past wrongdoing. Now his manifesto will ‘enable’ dictator-like powers.
Many senior Conservatives, ex-Conservatives and his own family are crying out for you to listen to their warnings and to vote Liberal Democrat.
I am the only candidate with a chance of beating the Conservatives in Rutland and Melton and am proud to be a member of the moderate Lib Dems in this time of extremism. My background is as a university lecturer and researcher in Leicester and an academic author in European security. I have also worked in the NHS in Stamford and acted as a peacemaker and mediator including in conflict zones.
If elected I shall work tirelessly for local people. For example, the Liberal Democrats will raise taxes by 1p in the pound and ringfence that money for more resources in the NHS, mental health and social care. I would try to ensure Oakham Memorial Hospital stays open and improve its services.
Our local communities need to thrive with sensible planning and better public transport. I would ask for the current St George’s project to be reconsidered, as it could harm the local environment and encourage more cars.
Our local farmers and businesses need to be protected from a no-deal Brexit, which is still the default. A deal with Trump would lead to more erosion of our liberal democracy, more poverty, more privatisation of the NHS, more expensive medicines, lower food standards and devastating barriers to trade.
Please vote for me, your local Liberal Democrat candidate, pledged to stop a hard Brexit and work with our fellow European citizens on the climate emergency and reversing the decline in democracy.
