WITH less than two weeks to go until the general election, campaigns are reaching their peak as residents prepare to go to the polls.
With candidates from across the political spectrum standing in Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and the surrounding areas, the Daily Echo posed the same six questions to each, to see what they would say.
Each was given the opportunity to respond, with word limits for each answer to keep answers to the point.
We will be publishing the answers of every candidate, with candidates for each constituency grouped together.
In the first feature of the series, we publish the answers of each candidate standing in Bournemouth West.
CONSERVATIVE: Sir Conor Burns
What is your policy on housing?
We need to build more homes and break the stranglehold the large developers have. Smaller scale development that works with the community should be incentivised. Here in Bournemouth we need to end the council obsession with building flats with no parking. This is storing up problems for the future.
What is your policy on the NHS?
I want to see GPs to go back to seeing patients face to face. I’m working to bring a dental training college to the area to sort the problem of dentist appointments. I’m proud to have helped secure the £250m investment in the new theatres in Poole and the upgrade of RBH.
What are your top three priorities for the area and why?
Town centre, town centre and town centre. Cleaner and safer. Smaller shops like Westbourne. Tackling anti-social behaviour. Bringing a farmers market. We are cleaning chewing gum, putting in new bins, hanging baskets – small things to show positive change. Our centre could bring down our area. It must be fixed.
What is the biggest change you want to bring to your constituency?
Robust community policing. We get excuses not action. I want the new 174 officers on the streets sorting aggressive begging, anti-social behaviour and open drug dealing. It has got worse in the last few years. Change is vital to sort our town centre and reverse the reputation we are getting.
What is the biggest issue that residents have raised on the campaign trail?
The feeling our place is getting scruffy and shabby. That things have gotten so much worse since BCP came into existence and it’s the same whichever party runs it. Lack of street cleaning, grass cutting – basic stuff. Most obvious in the town. We want to restore pride in our area.
How will you split your time between Westminster and your constituency?
Bournemouth is my home. I live in Westbourne. London is work. I love this place and come here to be at home. I don’t pretend to live here - I actually do. I will divide time as I have over 14 years with you as priority wherever I am.
LABOUR: Jessica Toale
What is your policy on housing?
Labour will build 1.5m new homes over the next parliament, delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable homes in a generation. We will give first time buyers first dibs on new homes and help with mortgages. We will introduce a Renters Charter to make renting fairer and more affordable and ban no fault evictions.
What is your policy on the NHS?
Labour will build an NHS fit for the future and bring care closer to home. We will fund 40,000 extra hospital appointments and 13,000 emergency dental appointments each week. We will double the number of cancer scanners and train 8,500 mental health specialists. Over the next 10 years we will set up a National Care Service.
What are your top three priorities for the area and why?
My priorities are: Revitalising our town centre by supporting small businesses and tackling persistent anti-social behaviour; Making our streets safer with more police and action to tackle knife crime; Ensuring everyone can get a GP or and NHS dentist when they need on. I have also been campaigning to end sewage dumping in the sea.
What is the biggest change you want to bring to your constituency?
I want people to feel proud of Bournemouth and Poole again. I meet so many people who have stopped visiting the town centre or letting their children go in. There is so much going for the area from its natural beauty to its creative and entrepreneurial community. I want to be a champion for this.
What is the biggest issue that residents have raised on the campaign trail?
The two biggest issues that are raised are the levels of anti-social behaviour in all neighbourhoods and the state of the roads across the constituency.
How will you split your time between Westminster and your constituency?
As your MP I would have to spend Monday through Thursday in Westminster, raising your voices and concerns in the House of Commons and voting on laws. The rest of my time would be spent in the constituency, holding public surgeries and meetings, attending local events and visiting schools and other community groups.
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT: Jeff Hanna
What is your policy on housing?
Lib-Dems would build 150,000 new social homes a year, introduce a ‘use-it or lose-it’ policy for developers who sit on brown-field sites, and ensure that affordable housing is included in all developments. We would ban no-fault evictions to protect those who rent and raise stamp duty thresholds for first-time buyers.
What is your policy on the NHS?
Lib-Dems would recruit the doctors, nurses and NHS staff needed to cut the 7million waiting list; would increase the number of GPs by 8,000, with guaranteed appointments in 7 days, 24 hours if urgent; would offer guaranteed access to urgent NHS dentistry; and improved access to mental health support.
What are your top three priorities for the area and why?
Bournemouth town centre supported with reduced business rates, and incentives for owners of vacant premises to reduce their rents; more police overall, with community policing re-introduced; and real support for the homeless and addicts; because all three impact on the quality of life for everyone, day in, day out.
What is the biggest change you want to bring to your constituency?
A major reduction in crime – shoplifting, theft of vehicles, mopeds, cycles, and parcels, drug-dealing, anti-social behaviour of all kinds, knife crime – and of the fear of crime, not least in Bournemouth town centre, but across all our communities, from Westbourne through Winton to Alderney and Kinson.
What is the biggest issue that residents have raised on the campaign trail?
No one issue, but the cost-of-living crisis - food, heating, rents and mortgages - and the NHS are the major concerns shared with the entire country, whilst Bournemouth town centre and the need for more policing are more specifically constituency concerns. Increasingly, climate change is mentioned too.
How will you split your time between Westminster and your constituency?
Making a difference is not just done when parliament is sitting. It requires consultation with the council, Dorset Police, NHS Dorset, and all the organisations serving our area, whilst lobbying ministers and government departments, so I would be wherever is most important at whatever time. As simple as that.
GREEN PARTY: Darren Jones
What is your policy on housing?
Fund the building of affordable social housing with nearby facilities. Protect renters' rights with rent controls, stopping no-fault evictions and enforcing housing quality. Ensure all new homes are cheaper to run by increasing efficiency and insulation, and that planning rules mean we're building communities, not ghettos.
What is your policy on the NHS?
Fully fund the NHS with a wealth tax on the very richest in our society (multi-millionaire and billionaire's assets). Stop the creeping privatisation that's happening, and ensure proper funding across the care sector. Invest in NHS dentistry before it's too late.
What are your top three priorities for the area and why?
• Ensure Water Quality - Our Beach is our greatest natural asset, and clean seas are essential.
• Crime and Policing - Restoring Trust in Police and Investing in Court System and Rehabilitation of Offenders.
• Transport - Improving Rail and Bus transport to aid both tourism (our core business) and residents' use of town.
What is the biggest change you want to bring to your constituency?
Hope. There's a lot of negativity around, and most politicians are sending a message of negativity and personal attacks. We can build a brighter, better future, but not by repeating the mistakes of the past. Our future can be better for everyone if we make the right changes.
What is the biggest issue that residents have raised on the campaign trail?
The cost of living. A lot of this is driven by energy prices, and parties on the right just want to do more of the same. Clean energy would benefit everyone with lower prices, energy independence, reducing climate change and better health. Rich party donors are blocking this from happening.
How will you split your time between Westminster and your constituency?
I would spend as much time as possible here. I was born and raised here, and I've always lived here. It's my home, and I don't see that changing, and I don't see how you can serve a community if you're never there. Plus I'd miss my wife!
REFORM UK: Ben Aston
What is your policy on housing?
We are in the midst of a housing emergency. Young people are spending too much on a roof over their heads, and home ownership is only a dream for millions. We will address both supply and demand through our net-zero migration policy and by removing regulatory barriers to housebuilding.
What is your policy on the NHS?
The NHS should always be free at the point of use. That said, we must acknowledge that the NHS is in a state of perpetual crisis and must be reformed. Reform UK would learn lessons from more successful healthcare systems, such as the French system, and apply those lessons here.
What are your top three priorities for the area and why?
My top priority is making the town safe again by ending the policy of housing unvetted illegal economic migrants in local hotels. My second priority is the rejuvenation of the local economy; bringing new wealth to the area will solve many problems. My third priority is addressing the housing emergency.
What is the biggest change you want to bring to your constituency?
I am the only candidate representing a party that offers a meaningful alternative to the Labour/Conservative "Uniparty." It is important to stress that Keir Starmer is merely the other face of the same coin. Starmer's government will continue the policies of mass migration and high taxes.
What is the biggest issue that residents have raised on the campaign trail?
The Government has configured a human trafficking operation across The Channel. These unvetted men are then bussed to Bournemouth, leaving many parents frightened to allow their children into the town. Reform UK will stop the boats; men arriving via this route should never win the right to remain.
How will you split your time between Westminster and your constituency?
My time will likely be split evenly between addressing local issues and the immediate concerns of constituents, and contributing to the legislative process in Westminster, which will, in turn, address issues important to Bournemouth.
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY: David Warden
What is your policy on housing?
We believe in reinvigorating state housebuilding and removing market distortions which prevent housing supply meeting demand. We will establish a British Housing Corporation (BHC) to oversee and fund the construction of 100,000 social homes per year.
What is your policy on the NHS?
The NHS requires substantial reform. It must concentrate on its core function of treating the seriously ill and must properly plan its workforce requirements. We will train British citizens to fully satisfy its workforce requirements and end the practice of large-scale importation of doctors and nurses from developing countries.
What are your top three priorities for the area and why?
Restore pride in our town centre which is in a state of decay and dilapidation.
Build new social homes to end the scourge of homelessness.
Invite proposals for a world class attraction to revitalise our tourist economy.
What is the biggest change you want to bring to your constituency?
Reverse the economic and environmental decline of our town.
What is the biggest issue that residents have raised on the campaign trail?
Cost of living.
How will you split your time between Westminster and your constituency?
I live in Bournemouth and I can easily split my time between London when Parliament is in session and the constituency at weekends.
CHRISTIAN PEOPLES ALLIANCE: Julie Vivienne
What is your policy on housing?
Our policy is to build high density housing close to stations and close to the city centre with modern quality housing equipped with gyms and security. We’re opposed to building on meadows on the edge of Bournemouth. We would guarantee anyone sleeping rough a night shelter with a free meal.
What is your policy on the NHS?
We would revert to GP fund holding which worked so well in the 1990s and get money into GP surgeries so they work again. This makes closer relationships between GPs and hospitals and reduces waiting lists. We would divert money from the 27 health QUANGOs to front line services.
What are your top three priorities for the area and why?
Increase parental rights in education especially over what is taught in RSE.
End "political correctness" in our police force to focus more on crime.
Greatly improve the way children with Autism, ADHD and other such problems can receive diagnosis and equip schools to deal with them better.
What is the biggest change you want to bring to your constituency?
To rebuild the family.
Marriage between one man and one woman remains the fundamental building block for successful and healthy societies, and the most beneficial environment for the raising of children. CPA offers a grant of £12,000 before a first marriage with training; £6,000 before their first child, with training.
What is the biggest issue that residents have raised on the campaign trail?
The NHS crisis and the cost of living and making ends meet. Our policy is cutting QUANGOs and using the money on capital investment and using money from removing additional social requirements from Government contracts to cut taxes. These measures will bring growth and cut debt and help everyone.
How will you split your time between Westminster and your constituency?
I am self-employed and my children have all flown the nest so I can organise my time according to what is needed.
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