General Election 2015: Party manifestos from the Huddersfield candidates

Andrew Cooper — Green Party

@clrandrewcooper

Biography: I have lived in Huddersfield for most of my life. It is a town I know well and my commitment goes beyond any party political ambitions. I was first elected as a Green Party councillor in the Newsome Ward in 1999 and have been re-elected at each election, beating all Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and UKIP Candidates.

As an MP for Huddersfield, I offer a track record of action for local people. I successfully campaigned to have thousands of Huddersfield homes insulated for free under the Kirklees Warm Zone scheme. I have stopped Kirklees using public money to fund local politicians attending party conferences.

Manifesto: Only the Green Party challenges the cuts being forced on our communities. Labour and UKIP both support the Coalition’s austerity agenda. Our country is the 7th richest country in the world and yet is the most unequal in Europe. We need political change from principled politicians.

The Green Party would cancel the £100 Billion Trident missile replacement programme and the £50 Billion High Speed 2 rail link to London. In our fully costed Manifesto we will abolish tuition fees and provide free care for the elderly.

As a Green Party MP I will be free to express my own views and won’t be told what to do by any Party Whip. This will mean that I will able to represent local people in a way that candidates from other parties cannot. I will be an experienced, tested and new voice in Parliament for Huddersfield.

I have lived and worked in Huddersfield most of my life and like many people the town is a place that I know well. I know and value Huddersfield’s past and want to see it thrive in the future. I am optimistic about the town’s future and as its MP I would like to play a greater role in shaping it. Please give me your support on May 7th.

Itrat Ali — Conservative

@itratali1

Biography: I am a genuine, hardworking, down to earth local candidate and very proud and excited to be representing the people of Huddersfield as a prospective Parliamentary candidate. I am married to Imran and we have two daughters who attend school in Kirklees. As a working mum and having served as a school governor, I recognise the importance of good educational facilities to ensure the future generations have the best start in life and opportunity to better themselves

I studied medicinal Chemistry at Loughborough University and worked within the healthcare sector for 18 years.

I became involved with politics as a teenager while studying at Heckmondwike Grammar School and was one of the founders of the local young conservatives. I have organised events and campaigns locally and nationally, I am a regular contributor to Yorkshire Policy forum and also Chairman of the Yorkshire and Humber Conservative Muslim forum.

Manifesto:

• Make the people of Huddersfield my number one priority, support local business and develop job support network to help local people gain the skills they need to get a job, at the same time contribute to the government’s wider plan to build a stronger, more competitive economy. Attract business and regeneration opportunities to Huddersfield.
• Healthcare – Cutting bureaucracy, allowing doctors to treat patients as they know best and fighting to keep services local and accessible to the people of Huddersfield.
• Education – Giving parents more choice with regards to their child’s education, improving standards in schools to give young people the best start in life to go on to support themselves later in life.
• Crime – Working with the local police force to cut crime, improving the dialogue between the force and local people to establish initiatives to create a safer environment.
• Promotion of community cohesion, and building a safer stronger area where future generations can be proud to live work and bring up families.

Mike Forster — TUSC

Biography: I am 59 years old and have two children aged 32 and 30. I work for Kirklees Council as an education welfare officer and am a UNISON lead steward and serve on the National Local Government Executive of the union. I am also chair of the Anti Cuts Alliance.

Manifesto: Too many people will vote in this election for the ‘least worst’ Party. Yet the two Party system is falling apart and voters have rightly lost confidence in politicians and politics. We are a new coalition founded by the late Bob Crow to give ordinary people deserted by the Westminster elite hope and a voice. TUSC candidates will stand on a workers wage for a workers MP.

All four major parties, including UKIP, have committed to enforcing more austerity in the next five years. We oppose all cuts to services and benefits which have landed millions in debt, poverty and hardship.

We would make the bankers pay for their crisis and use the surplus to save and expand local services. Unrealistic? Tax evasion by the super rich, nuclear missiles, bail outs to the banks and illegal foreign wars have bankrupt this government.

There is enough money in this country, just in the wrong hands! How can anyone justify that 1% of the population own as much as the rest of us? TUSC believes in a massive redistribution of wealth back to those who need it most, and away from those who don’t know what to do with their cash piles.

My pledges:

• Support fully funded public services, including our schools and hospitals;
• A living wage of £10 an hour and the restoration of welfare benefits and income;
• No to the bedroom tax, build one million new council homes now;
• No more zero hour contracts, trade union rights for all;
• Oppose privatisation of public assets and return all privatised companies back to public ownership;
• No more fracking, for a sustainable energy policy to save the environment;
• No more illegal wars;
• Education for all, no more tuition fees;

• Solidarity, Unity and Socialism

Rob Butler — UKIP

Biography: I’m a local teacher who has lived in Huddersfield for 30 years. A father-of-two, my children were born at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and went to local comprehensives. My dad was a miner and my mum a nurse.

Manifesto:

• Control our borders: UKIP wants a fairer Australian-style points based system to decide who comes to work and settle here.
• Invest in the NHS: UKIP will pour £3billion a year extra into the NHS to keep it as a free public service, funded by scrapping our £56m a day EU membership fee.
• Due to the PFI deal done under the last Labour government for the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, bankers will charge the Trust £773.2m for the £64.6m capital cost of the scheme. This was privatisation of our NHS by the Labour Party and we will buy out PFI contracts where affordable.
• Fairer tax system: UKIP will scrap income tax on the minimum wage, scrap the ‘bedroom tax’ and scrap the tax on your children when you die.
• Honour the military covenant: UKIP will guarantee a job for veterans with 12 or more years of service.
• Spend here, not abroad: By stopping our EU membership fee and clawing back the £23m a day spent on foreign aid, UKIP is the only party with money to spend at home.
• The Westminster elite has betrayed Huddersfield people while saddling our children and grandchildren with almost insurmountable debt, to be repaid with their, as yet unearned, income. Leaving the EU will save at least £8bn pa. We will cut the foreign aid budget by £9bn pa, and prioritise disaster relief, inoculations against preventable disease and schemes which provide water.

• We will reduce the Barnet Formula that benefits Scottish voters over Huddersfield voters.

• Political reform: Out of touch Westminster elites do not understand what Huddersfield people want. We need to reform the cosy club of Lib/Lab/Con. In the last ten years Huddersfield has lost 10,000 jobs. It is vital that we repair our local economy with high-skilled high-paying jobs.

Barry Sheerman — Labour

@BarrySheerman

Manifesto: Homes, Health and Hope!

I came into politics because I want every person to be able to live the good life. My children were given a great start in life by local state schools, and I want every little girl or boy to have the chance to pursue their talents to the full, to succeed in Britain, and eventually to contribute to our society.

To live the good life, you need a home, and we have a housing crisis in this country. Rents are too high and owning your own home is becoming a pipe dream for most young people. Labour will tackle this by building 200,000 homes a year by 2020 and clamping down on rip-off landlords by creating more secure tenancies.

For the good life you also need your health, which is why the Labour Party’s proudest achievement is the creation of the NHS. The Conservative Government has seriously damaged the NHS through terrible mismanagement and disastrous attempts at privatisation: as a result our own A & E in Huddersfield has been threatened with closure. I will fight tooth and nail to ensure this does not happen, and on the national level Labour has pledged to properly fund the NHS, paid for by a mansion tax.

Finally, we need hope – hope for a better life, hope we can get through these tough economic times, and hope that our children can enjoy a better standard of life than we enjoy. This has been the promise underpinning our society since 1945, which has been systematically undermined by the Conservatives. No more zero-hours contracts, low pay or victimisation of people at the bottom of society; it is time we invested in innovation, enterprise and skills to drive real wealth creation and to restore hope of a better life in a proud country.

Zulfiqar Ali — Liberal Democrat

Manifesto: I joined the Liberal Democrats in 1982. In 1998 I began my political career. For 14 years I was a leading Lib Dem councillor. Progressing in my career, I became the deputy leader of the Lib Dems. In 2010, I was elected as Mayor. In 2012, I began my role on the Immigration Advice Policy Panel for the Lib Dems.

I am a self-employed businessman in Huddersfield where I have lived for over 20 years. I am married and have two kids who currently attend Royds Hall High School. As a parent, a self-employed sole trader and with elderly parents, I fully understand the hopes and fears of every family and small business owners. We all want the best education and future for our children so I promise I will work to ensure sufficient resources are invested in schools.

We do not want our older generation to be faced with the dilemma of “eating or heating” and with inadequate long term care. As for small business owners we want helpful and stable economic conditions to grow our businesses rather than a cycle of “boom and bust”, with an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear. I promise I will fight tirelessly for our NHS and local services.

In 2010 the Liberal Democrats put the country before party interests and helped create a strong, stable government that has rescued the British economy and helped to deliver tax cuts for thousands of workers in Huddersfield. On May 7 you can rescue Huddersfield and its economy by getting rid of Labour

Please be a part of the solution on May 7th by making a positive choice for change. Vote for me to be your voice of change at Westminster so that we can work together for a better and fairer Huddersfield. Vote Zulfiqar Ali on May 7.