Chris Scott – Croydon Constitutionalists

Chris Scott, Reform UK candidate for East Surrey

Chris Scott is the Reform UK Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for East Surrey. We spoke with Chris about his decision to stand.

“Keen supporter of Anglo-European cooperation which, in the case of Airbus with its British wings, predates our joining the EEC in 1972, I nevertheless tired of the apparent disdain in which the UK was regarded by European elites”

Can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

Born in Surrey. Grew up in colonial southern Africa from the age of six. Returned aged 18 to seek training as a commercial pilot. Flew wartime Dakotas and a variety of jet airliners with 22 years in command, including 12 years checking fellow pilots. My wife and I live on the Downs in this beautiful constituency. Our two surviving children have blessed us with grandchildren and, living nearby, regular grandparent duties! Our son runs his own architectural visualisation business in the constituency.

What made you decide to stand for Reform UK?

Having attended Airbus courses in Toulouse, my first retirement project was in France, supervising the building of a holiday home under the attendant bureaucracy. Keen supporter of Anglo-European cooperation which, in the case of Airbus with its British wings, predates our joining the EEC in 1972, I nevertheless tired of the apparent disdain in which the UK was regarded by European elites. Disappointing, considering our unique contributions to European unity in two world wars and our honesty in EU membership.

“Nevertheless, Brexit is yet to be completed or exploited by this craven government. It and HM Opposition contain a majority of diehard Remainers”

Similarly disenchanted with the Tories under David Cameron, I joined UKIP in 2015 to campaign in the General Election and the 2016 Referendum. Dismayed with parliamentary prevarication on Brexit and the collapse of UKIP, I joined the Brexit Party in 2019 and campaigned in the European Elections. Our overwhelming victory toppled Mrs May’s premiership and in the subsequent General Election we stood down half our candidates, allowing Boris Johnson his 80-seat majority to “get Brexit done”.

Nevertheless, Brexit is yet to be completed or exploited by this craven government. It and HM Opposition contain a majority of diehard Remainers. We live in a dis-United Kingdom with Northern Ireland domestic and international trade controlled by Brussels, our fisheries open to foreign exploitation and a European court dictating how we control our borders. Net immigration, which Tory manifestos have long promised to reduce to the tens of thousands, is two-thirds of a million annually. That tens of thousands arriving from the safety of France – mainly anonymous young males seeking a better life – are assisted to violate the UK border by our own Border Force, while British citizens queue at Passport Control, is a national disgrace. And, at that moment, the injustice and cost to us all is just beginning.

A “Conservative” administration has, during 14 years in office, presided over a steady decline in our country. Law and order have broken down and intolerant minority groups allowed to seize control of our everyday lives. Increasingly authoritarian and egged on by all the opposition parties, this government abandoned pandemic planning, locking the country down three times, closing schools unnecessarily and trying to mandate experimental vaccines under bogus pretences.

“The title of its recently created Department of Energy Security and Net Zero is a risible contradiction in terms”

Without public consultation or the possibility of any significant effect on world CO2 emissions, HMG has been imposing a calamitous, “Net Zero” energy policy based on intermittent wind and solar, while failing to plan or provide back-up from home-sourced fossil fuels and nuclear. Forcing cash-strapped families to install expensive, unsuitable heat-pump systems, and banning fossil-fuel powered vehicles for personal and business use is illiberal and authoritarian. Energy prices for ordinary people have soared and the economy suffers, while virtually all our manufacturing has been outsourced to hostile, totalitarian China, the world’s greatest polluter. The title of its recently created Department of Energy Security and Net Zero is a risible contradiction in terms.

Still suffering the long-term effects of family isolations and school closures under Lockdown, children many years below the age of consent have been taught to question their sexuality and even their sex. Like the Leader of the Opposition, my Tory MP, when asked, was unable to define a woman. Femininity has been insulted and its fundamental characteristics denied by some men under a government that claims to be conservative but has deferred to the “woke” mind virus. Recruitment to our dangerously depleted armed forces has prioritised criteria of diversity, equity and inclusion instead of aptitude and potential.

NHS bureaucracy, inefficiency and wastage have increased, as have waiting lists. The dominance of foreign-trained staff in our health and care services and their low levels of pay reflect the failure to motivate and train our own school leavers, many of whom accumulate debt pursuing university courses of little or no use in a future career instead of vocational training. Personal taxation, particularly for low-income earners, encourages many to stay at home on benefit. The recent rise in corporation tax discourages investment in medium-size companies, negating the traditional Tory claim to be pro-business.

“As for the Surrey County Council, questions have been raised about the sale of its iconic Kingston HQ to developers for a knockdown price”

What do you see as the big concerns for the constituency and what issues do you hope to champion?

We East Surrey residents face all the above problems. Local issues include increased theft and assault. Our green spaces are under threat because of housing shortages caused by the immigration-driven rise in population, which is also overloading schools, transport, hospitals and other infrastructure. Waiting times at A&E are rising, and too many people are catching infections in hospital. As for the Surrey County Council, questions have been raised about the sale of its iconic Kingston HQ to developers for a knockdown price. It has allowed roads to deteriorate to a dangerous state, potentially fatal for cyclists.

There is much anger and dismay across the UK. But, let’s face it, if the July 4th election produces a Labour or Lib-Lab coalition government, we can expect all the above lunacy on steroids. And, if the Tories manage by some miracle to hang on to office, they will interpret it as a mandate simply to give us more of the same.

Over the last few weeks, as they agonised over when to call a general election they are bound to lose, the Tories started to row back on some policies, and to try and mend the ship. Too late, Mr Sunak! Reform UK is the only party fielding candidates nationwide in the forthcoming general election that stands for common sense and the legitimate aspirations of ordinary, decent people who no longer recognise their country. That’s why I am greatly privileged to be standing for Reform in my home constituency of East Surrey.

For those eager to help, how can they get involved in the campaign?

Reform UK is a new, underfunded party. We are short of volunteers to do the nitty-gritty of campaigning, such as leafleting and banging on doors. Whether or not you have already joined the party, if you can help with that or maybe provide a venue for meetings, please contact me by email:

[email protected]

You can also find out more from our other interviews with Chris here https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/category/chris-scott/

Wet summer, whilst Europe burns. Is it weather or is it climate change? – Your Views (Part 3)

In the UK we’ve faced a wet summer, whilst we’ve been told Europe burns. Are we being told the truth? Are these problems man-made or due to climate change? If climate change, what if anything should we do about it?

We asked our contributors for their views.

Back to Part 2

Chris Scott, Reform UK

“the British summer has never been a given: predictably unpredictable. Nothing this year we haven’t seen in living memory”

The following represents my own, reasonably humble opinion: all or even part of it not necessarily coincident with that of Reform UK.

We’ve certainly had a topsy-turvy summer in Blighty, and there were heatwaves in southern Europe while we were almost shivering and damp here. But the British summer has never been a given: predictably unpredictable. Nothing this year we haven’t seen in living memory, following a day or two of just about record highs last year.

First let me admit to a very limited knowledge and understanding of climatology. On the other hand, 35 years in aviation and a general interest in natural sciences have led me to a close interest and reasonable understanding of weather, and its short-term forecasting.

” I rarely give heed to bold predictions – eagerly seized on by journalists – of weather extremes 10 or 14 days in advance. As for what sort of weather we can expect in the next month or three: forget it!”

Weather forecasting has been largely computerised and enables meteorologists to predict most types of weather phenomena up to 4 or 5 days ahead with remarkable accuracy. Beyond that period, reliability rapidly declines, and I rarely give heed to bold predictions – eagerly seized on by journalists – of weather extremes 10 or 14 days in advance. As for what sort of weather we can expect in the next month or three: forget it!

That doesn’t mean, of course, that the climatologists’ gloomy analyses of long-term climate-change trends can simply be dismissed, nor that human activity has no effect on world climate. But it seems to me that, to take one example, they are not always comparing like with like in their historic graphs of temperature. For example, many rural thermometric sites in the 19th century have since been surrounded by buildings. Temperature readings are bound to be generally higher. In one sense, that is man-made climate change! Can and is due allowance made for that?

They claim that extreme weather events, including fatalities, are and will continue to be on the increase. But, in this age of mass, almost instant worldwide communication, events that would have remained unrecorded – or at least overlooked internationally, even 50 years ago – are on our TV screens within 24 hours. And the 24-hour news media make a big proportion of their living by reporting them in the greatest detail.

“There are doubts on the impartiality of a climate science that is funded by governments and international organisations (using your taxes and mine)”

There are doubts on the impartiality of a climate science that is funded by governments and international organisations (using your taxes and mine) pursuing a globalist agenda that would impose swingeing restrictions on the freedoms, lifestyles and even the diet of ordinary citizens, while its leaders’ swan around in private jets from conference to conference with their entourages. In the UK, to take one example, present government policy would ban the production of fossil fuel-powered cars in just over six years’ time, while the electric alternatives remain problematical, to say the least.

Finally, there is also a shrillness in the pronouncements of the self-styled climate-emergency lobby, and an unwillingness to engage in calm debate. Climate-change sceptics are branded as climate-change “deniers”, a term that implies bigotry. An old adage springs to mind: “methinks thou doth protest too much…”

You can contact Chris at [email protected]. More information on Reform UK and their policies can be found at https://www.reformparty.uk/.

Simon Richards, former CEO of The Freedom Association

“Let’s be honest – most of us don’t even know for sure how tomorrow’s weather will turn out.

Consequently, I prefer to hedge my bets about climate change”

Unlike so many politicians who pontificate about climate change with all the certainty of meteorological professors who have also been granted forward climatic vision for the next century or two, I claim no such expertise. Let’s be honest – most of us don’t even know for sure how tomorrow’s weather will turn out.

Consequently, I prefer to hedge my bets about climate change. My guess is that it is mostly down to natural causes, but that it makes sense to treat the planet and the atmosphere with care and respect. For that reason, I reckon it makes sense to develop renewable energy and nuclear energy. But it is also sensible to try to reduce our energy dependence on what are often hostile overseas powers, so I also favour using all domestic energy sources, including shale oil, coal, oil, natural gas etc. as necessary.

“As usual, the Left is using fear to drive an expansion of state control and interference in people’s lives.”

As usual, the Left is using fear to drive an expansion of state control and interference in people’s lives. Excessive adoption of the Net Zero agenda in the UK must not be allowed to impoverish us, whilst Communist China and others make a mockery of our self-flagellation.

You can listen to podcast with Simon at https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/podcast-episode-82-simon-richards-local-election-results-no-sunset-for-eu-laws/.

Back to Part 2

Photo by USGS on Unsplash

Chris Scott, Reform UK candidate, Horley Central & South ward, Reigate and Banstead Council.

We spoke with Chris Scott when he ran in Horley in 2022. Chris is running again in this years local elections and we were delighted to hear more on the party, and Chris’ campaign for Reigate and Banstead Council.

“Far too many unacademic A-Level students are being steered towards inappropriate, “soft” university courses instead of some form of apprenticeship. This leaves them with the prospect of repaying a large debt”

So what is our take on the current dysfunctional governance of the United Kingdom? Or should I say our DIS-United Kingdom and, seven years after the Referendum, our status of having achieved Brexit in name only? How many of the laws that Parliament enacted at the behest of the European Commission have been repealed? When I last heard, none. it seems that the Prime Minister, who claims to have voted to Leave without campaigning for it, is in the thrall of Tory MPs who are instinctive Remainers. An increasing majority of his cabinet voted Remain and, one suspects, pay merely lip-service to Brexit.

In more general, national terms, Reform UK advocates that:

1) Schools should never again be closed during a pandemic. Literacy and numeracy must be prioritised. Sport must be offered and encouraged. Pupils should not be encouraged to question their sex. If any child shows signs of gender dysphoria, the parents must be consulted. Far too many unacademic A-Level students are being steered towards inappropriate, “soft” university courses instead of some form of apprenticeship. This leaves them with the prospect of repaying a large debt unless they fail to earn well in their subsequent careers.

2) The NHS is systemically broken, however excellent are its clinicians. Due to failure to train enough of our own, we are poaching too many foreign clinicians that are trained and needed in their home countries. Too much money is being wasted. The terms of service of GPs are counterproductive for their patients. Major revisions are essential, even if they involve some form of insurance or means-tested contributions for consultations. Excessive delays for consultations or treatment should qualify patients to go private at NHS expense.

3) On immigration, it is unacceptable that people arriving illegally with no personal documentation by hazardous, highly expensive crossings of the English Channel should all be treated by default as genuine asylum-seekers at taxpayers’ expense and parachuted in large groups into small communities nationwide.

“People earning little more than the national median wage are becoming subject to 40% tax. That is grotesque”

4) Major tax reform is essential. People on low incomes should not be paying income tax at all. People earning little more than the national median wage are becoming subject to 40% tax. That is grotesque, as are the thresholds for inheritance tax. People who paid tax on their earnings throughout their lifetime should be entitled to hand the residual funds and property down to their children without further taxation.

5) “Net Zero” must be abandoned. It will ruin our economy and cause serious hardship, particularly to people on low-to-medium incomes – unlike the legislators who dreamed it up. Globally futile, it will be ignored by the major world polluters, such as China and India, whose economies will profit at our expense. Wind and solar could never reliably supply even half our needs, and their energy output is non-storable in the present state of technology. Likewise, the ban on production of internal-combustion-engine cars from 2030 is impracticable and must be abandoned before it’s too late. It would reveal the limitations of our national grid, and deplete the finite, worldwide resources of minerals needed to produce batteries that last less than ten years and are extremely expensive to replace. Decades of neglect on nuclear technology after our early international lead have denied us its ideal role in supplying the base load for electricity generation. Given that the variable excess demand cannot be supplied reliably by wind and solar, and hydrogen is not widely available in the foreseeable future, fossil-fuels remain an essential energy source. Further exploitation of North Sea gas and oil reserves must be considered, as well as fracking, which our present prime minister promised to do during his Tory leadership campaign as recently as last autumn.

6) HMG boasts its alleged spending of 2% of GDP, but the war in Ukraine has highlighted the latter’s inadequacy. Our three armed services are left in a parlous state. The Royal Navy has two large aircraft carriers that are short of aircraft and, perhaps even worse, suitable escort vessels. The Army headcount is at an all-time low. In the RAF, aircrew are not flying enough to maintain experience levels. All three services are, it seems, more concerned with diversity than excellence.

“There is a general slide in government towards a form of woke, defeatist, social-Marxism that will persist as long as the main parties at Westminster are ruling the roost in the UK”

7) There is a general slide in government towards a form of woke, defeatist, social-Marxism that will persist as long as the main parties at Westminster are ruling the roost in the UK. When elected, Reform UK MPs will challenge that damaging, conventional mindset.

Of course, none of the above issues can be at the forefront of my local-election campaign in Horley Central & South.

“Town centres must be reinvigorated with cuts in business rates, free car-parking, more residential accommodation and targeted investment. In Horley, too many small retailers have been priced out”

In addition to the issues I have raised on the front of my personal election leaflet (below), Reform UK proposes the following policies in local government.

(a) Local communities should have more say in their affairs than at present. A random example of that would be the recent overruling by HMG of Braintree Council’s attempt to stop so-called asylum-seekers being accommodated on the old aerodrome at Weathersfield to the detriment of the local community.

(b) Unnecessary local spending should be cut. Do lesbian, gay and bisexual residents really appreciate pedestrian crossings being repainted in rainbow colours?

(c) Town centres must be reinvigorated with cuts in business rates, free car-parking, more residential accommodation and targeted investment. In Horley, too many small retailers have been priced out.

As a Reigate and Banstead district Councillor for Reform UK in Horley Central & South, I would make my own decisions on local policy initiatives without being subject to diktat from party HQ.

You can read our first interview with Chris at https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/chris-scott-reform-uk/. You can also contact Chris at [email protected] and find out more about Reform UK and their policies via https://www.reformparty.uk/.

European Court of Human Rights – Your views, Part 1

The European Court of Human Rights intervened to stop the deportation flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda. The UK is a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.

We asked your views on: How should the government react to the ruling by the ECHR?

On to Part 2

Les Beaumont stood for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Pitshanger Ward, London Borough of Ealing in May’s local elections.

“Whatever the outcome, the government should withdraw from The Convention and replace the existing UK Human Rights Act, which enshrines The Convention into British law”

As a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, the UK really has no choice but to follow The ECHR’s urgent interim measure and await its full judgement. I’m not sure if the UK can appeal the interim order in the meantime.

Whatever the outcome, the government should withdraw from The Convention and replace the existing UK Human Rights Act, which enshrines The Convention into British law, with an Act that provides the same protections as The Convention but with the UK Supreme Court as the final arbiter. It should also commit to enshrine any future changes to The Convention into UK law, subject to there being no jurisdictions outside the UK courts.

Having served notice of its withdrawal from The Convention, the government should urgently consider ignoring any rulings of The ECHR and rely on the rulings of the UK Supreme Court on those matters.

Brexit campaigner Georgina Guillem.

“Human Rights did not begin with the ECHR the UK has always had the reputation for setting high standards both domestically and internationally”

The ECHR has stopped the first fight of Asylum Seekers to Rwanda. This of course should have been considered as all European institutions (EU or otherwise) will do all it can to thwart whatever the UK does to try to address this problem. Likewise, all the do-gooders that protest. There must be a solution to this ever-increasing problem of mostly young men arriving by boat without trying to be accepted through the right channels. Human Rights did not begin with the ECHR the UK has always had the reputation for setting high standards both domestically and internationally.

Not to honour a treaty once signed is wrong, however the safeguard of the UK must be considered, therefore it is also wrong not to put its wellbeing first. A true Brexiteer wanted to leave the EU, all the institutions of Europe and return full sovereignty without a deal, had we done this we might not have had all this agony. Also the Northern Ireland Mess might have been avoided.

Brexiter Jeremy Wraith who has contributed several articles to our site.

“Why did the interviewer on Sky not ask him why they did not walk into one of the British embassies in the many safe countries they crossed and ask for asylum there, France in particular?”

I watched an interview on Sky TV with the Chief Executive of the Refugee Council. He said that the refugees have a human right to come to the UK and claim asylum here as the refugees in Palestine cannot walk into the British Embassy in Palestine to ask for asylum. Why did the interviewer on Sky not ask him why they did not walk into one of the British embassies in the many safe countries they crossed and ask for asylum there, France in particular?

I firmly believe that the UK should cancel its involvement in the ECHR as the UK is perfectly capable of defending the human rights of its own citizens. So why are we relying on foreign bodies to dictate our human rights policies for us.

The quicker we withdraw from many other European and EU treaties and rules the better!

“If a signatory country is prevented from deciding who can enter and, therefore, whom it can legally deport, it is no longer sovereign”

Chris Scott stood for Reform UK in the Horley Central and South Ward of Reigate & Banstead Council, in May’s local elections.

I’m no lawyer, nor even a student, so my response will be based mainly on what I’ve gleaned from media interviews and discussions since the eleventh-hour ECHR ruling on the planned Home Office deportation flight to Kigali last week.

Although there was a lack of transparency by the ECHR on which judge, or judges were hurriedly called in to rule on deportations that had just been ruled legal by our own Supreme Court – the third English court to consider the appellants’ case – I guess it was unlikely that the Home Secretary would have been prepared to flout the decision on this occasion. I wonder, however, if the Home Office lawyers were expecting it and, if so, whether Miss Patel had been warned of the probability. Flouting international law is not something one would want or expect HMG to do in haste.

The UK was, evidently, the chief author of the original convention on human rights for Europe in the aftermath of the horrific events that were revealed during and after WW2. That we should have drafted it was right and proper. We had been the only European combatant to maintain our democratic freedoms during the war and had played a major part – initially single-handed, but for the stout help of our Empire countries – in saving Europe and much of the world from tyranny.

A court, also bearing the initials ECHR, was created. But, as I understand it, the convention’s original provisions have been extended and others added to the extent that the court seems even to have become a threat to national sovereignty. If a signatory country is prevented from deciding who can enter and, therefore, whom it can legally deport, it is no longer sovereign. Based in the same campus as the European parliament in Strasbourg, one suspects that the Court’s advocates may share similar aspirations to members of the Council of Europe and Eurocrats who, for reasons of their own, wish to lessen the autonomy of the EU’s nation states.

There is, therefore, a strong argument for the UK to withdraw from the ECHR and to give precedence to a new bill of rights seven decades after we framed it. This would doubtless provoke wide international condemnation, much of it sneering and disingenuous, from countries that have in many cases come late to the table of human rights. After all, it started here in Blighty over eight centuries ago with Magna Carta. The UK should continue to hold its head high on human rights and perhaps take a new lead, as we did in 1950.

On to Part 2

Image: details, original, amended.

Chris Scott Reform UK candidate Horley Central and South Ward, Reigate & Banstead Council.

Reform UK the successor to The Brexit Party is standing candidates in May’s local elections. We spoke with Chris Scott who is standing for them in the Horley Central and South Ward of Reigate & Banstead Council.

Chris thank-you for your time.

“Having spent many years flying European Airbuses, facilitated by courses at Toulouse, I remain a strong proponent of Anglo-European cooperation. However, it’s easily forgotten that the UK was making wings for Airbus before we joined the EEC, and the Anglo-French Concorde was conceived in the 1960s”

Tell us a bit about yourself and your party?

Like my friend and Reigate colleague, Joe Fox (standing in South Park and Woodhatch Ward), I’m a retired, septuagenarian grandfather. Born and having lived in beautiful Surrey all my adult life, I nevertheless spent most of my childhood in Africa. My wife and I have two surviving children and four surviving grandchildren. We live on the North Downs with our pets: currently an old cat and a young Ridgeback bitch. Apart from walking the dog on country footpaths, my leisure interests include minor car maintenance and home DIY, tending our garden (though I’m no gardener!), photography and classical music.

I travelled widely in my career as an airline pilot. Having spent many years flying European Airbuses, facilitated by courses at Toulouse, I remain a strong proponent of Anglo-European cooperation. However, it’s easily forgotten that the UK was making wings for Airbus before we joined the EEC, and the Anglo-French Concorde was conceived in the 1960s.

In 1975, I voted for the UK to remain in the then EEC, but Brussels’s handling of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 led me to increasing scepticism of our EU membership. A lifelong Tory voter, by 2015 I was also disillusioned with that party’s abandonment of conservatism. I became a UKIP activist in time for the 2015 General Election, from which the party emerged with only one parliamentary seat in return for more national votes than the LibDems and SNP combined. Nevertheless, UKIP’s long campaign forced David Cameron to make and honour his manifesto promise of a referendum.

After the referendum, UKIP became increasingly rudderless and I resigned early in 2019, joining The Brexit Party. Within months, we had won the European elections and forced a change of Prime Minister, despite having no representation at Westminster. Our standing down of all candidates against Tory incumbents allowed Boris Johnson to win an 80-seat majority at the general election that December on the promise of Brexit.

Boris’s deeply-flawed Withdrawal Agreement, which has left us subject to decisions by European judges and living in a dis-United Kingdom, was signed by both sides in January 2020. The resulting recall of our MEPs from Europe led to many of them leaving the party and active politics to pursue other interests. Although Brexit was and remains far from complete, the party’s name was no longer appropriate and, in 2021, we were relaunched as Reform UK to emphasise the task of challenging the cosy two-party system at Westminster and the electoral system that perpetuates it.

Reform UK’s national policies are radically different from those of the present government, which today is neither conservative nor libertarian. The Tory leadership has increasingly embraced socially-Marxist ideals and globalism, which undermine our heritage and the concept of the nation-state.

We were and are strongly opposed to authoritarian lockdowns and vaccination mandates in the event of a pandemic, and advocate an NHS that protects the people, not the reverse.
We regard the present energy policies, particularly net-zero and reliance on unreliable wind and solar, as economically suicidal and globally ineffectual. They are already creating financial hardship for decent, hard-working people.
On immigration, we oppose priority being given, in effect, to economic migrants who arrive illegally over genuine applicants.
We would cancel HS2, primarily an inter-city vanity project and costly in terms of money and adverse effects on householders and the countryside. Rail links elsewhere need instead to be improved.

“the provision of at least one more recreation ground – preferably east of the Balcombe Road – for residents of all ages to stretch their legs or relax. I would keep a close eye on unsuitable developments affecting residents and threatening green spaces”

You’re standing in the Horley Central and South Ward, can you introduce the ward to us and what you can bring to the area?

It may seem odd that I’m standing in a Horley ward at the south-eastern extremity of the Borough, while living at the other end. I can’t claim to know Horley well, although I was based at nearby Gatwick for 21 years. The reason is that I’m the Reform UK spokesperson for East Surrey and, due to the vagaries of parliamentary and local-government boundaries, residents of the Horley Central & South ward of the Reigate & Banstead borough find themselves in the East Surrey parliamentary constituency instead of Reigate. My friend and colleague, Joseph Fox, represents Reform UK in Reigate, and is standing in the Southfields and Woodhatch ward.

Reform UK’s local policies include protecting green spaces from housing developments, and ensuring the latter include provision for the extra load on local infrastructure, transport, schooling and medical facilities. We would promote the revitalisation of high-streets with free parking and cuts to business rates, as well as encouraging more housing in town centres.

Horley town centre is certainly in need of regeneration, though well served by its railway station. There is some light industry, based mainly near the railway line. The residential areas include apartment blocks near town, becoming less crowded and leafier further out.

My individual aspirations, since banging on doors in the ward, include the provision of at least one more recreation ground – preferably east of the Balcombe Road – for residents of all ages to stretch their legs or relax. I would keep a close eye on unsuitable developments affecting residents and threatening green spaces. Other issues will no doubt come to my attention during the remaining fortnight before the election.

“With the Tories currently in charge – and, in Horley Central & South, three councillors out of three – it’s time to elect someone with a fresh and critical perspective to challenge their complacency”

More widely what would you like to see change at Reigate & Banstead Council and across the borough?

Throughout the borough, the scale of fly-tipping is increasing and, in my opinion, this is being encouraged by hefty charges at the Earlswood recycling centre and elsewhere, even for the kind of waste that is produced by routine home maintenance. The Surrey County Council takes that revenue. The Borough, on the other hand, has to collect rubbish from streets and verges. Meanwhile, farmers and others have the expense and potential hazard of removing it from their land.

Further, I’m astonished that, given the current, post-pandemic advice from central government, the Town Hall in Reigate has only partially reopened to the public, closing at 2 pm. Worse than that, it’s evident that the majority of its business is being conducted by staff still working from their homes. This represents a failure of leadership in the Town Hall. As a council tax-payer, I’ve written to them for an explanation and look forward to the response.

With the Tories currently in charge – and, in Horley Central & South, three councillors out of three – it’s time to elect someone with a fresh and critical perspective to challenge their complacency.

How can people find out more or get in touch if they want to get involved?

Contact me at [email protected]. More information on Reform UK and our policies can be found on our website https://www.reformparty.uk/.