Irene Yoong-Henery is the Reform UK Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Birmingham Ladywood. We spoke with Irene about her decision to stand.
“The NHS appears to have a culture of Death at the moment, whether it is due to a lack of resources or “woke” ideology. All lives are precious to God”
Can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
I will be standing as a Reform UK parliamentary candidate for Birmingham Ladywood in the General Election on 4/July/2024. I was born in Malaysia (previously a British colony for 133 years). I studied at a Catholic convent school founded by British nuns for 11 years. Later I also studied in Singapore, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom where I qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant.
I started my professional career at J. Sainsbury’s plc, preparing and monitoring multi-million pound budgets for hundreds of its supermarkets from Scotland, to Northern Ireland, to Coventry, for 5 years. I then embarked on a legal career as CEO of Ian Henery Solicitors Ltd for 23 years. I have worked with local and international businesses, promoting British businesses overseas in China and Hong Kong. I was part of the England China Business Forum in Birmingham.
However I have now retired from professional life to work for the good of our country.
I will be very pleased to meet Ladywood constituents and find out what their concerns are affecting them and their families.
What made you decide to stand for Reform UK?
I was approached to become a Reform candidate through my work as Chairperson of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) Walsall branch. I am a staunch Catholic and am convinced that I can save hundreds of thousands of lives, the lives of mothers and their babies, if better laws are passed in parliament. DIY abortions by poison- pills-in-the-post may save the NHS money but the outcomes are terrible for both mother and baby. The NHS appears to have a culture of Death at the moment, whether it is due to a lack of resources or “woke” ideology. All lives are precious to God and as Christians, we must do our outmost to preserve lives. Reform UK has a large number of Christians as members and we are all working to improve the quality of life for British people. “We want our country back” is often heard amongst our members and we mean to turn back the clock to a more gentle and peaceful period where British people went to church, loved God, King/Queen and country, and did not shout hatred at each other and tear down statues nor stop traffic and hold the British public to ransom with impossible demands.
“I speak Mandarin to Chinese Mainland constituents, Cantonese to Hong Kong constituents, Malay to Malaysian & Indonesian constituents, and English to everyone”
You’re the Spokesman for Birmingham Ladywood what’s made you decide to represent this area?
I am representing Birmingham Ladywood which encompasses Chinatown where I had 2 branches of my law firm for many years. We were a full service law firm that won many awards and were well respected in the Chinese community. We also won the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award from Birmingham Law Society. I still count many business owners in Chinatown as friends, and they are supporting my campaign. I speak Mandarin to Chinese Mainland constituents, Cantonese to Hong Kong constituents, Malay to Malaysian & Indonesian constituents, and English to everyone else! As I spent my childhood in Malaysia which has a majority of Muslims, I can relate to Muslims. In some wards within Ladywood, there are up to 84% Muslim constituents.
“We have the ridiculous situation of a lack of housing in Birmingham, yet we have nearly 1000 apartments in Perry Barr, Birmingham from the 2022 Commonwealth Games, still standing empty”
What do you see as the big concerns for the constituency and what issues do you hope to champion?
The big concerns that Birmingham Ladywood constituents have brought up for my attention during my campaigning which started last year, are crime, housing, immigration, the rising costs of living. Amongst Muslim and Christian parents, they are also concerned about LGBT teachings in the classrooms. Asian families want schools to concentrate on helping their children get straight A’s in the exams, and woke ideology to be banned. As a mother of 4, I can understand these parents’ concerns and would fight for all these issues. We have the ridiculous situation of a lack of housing in Birmingham, yet we have nearly 1000 apartments in Perry Barr, Birmingham from the 2022 Commonwealth Games, still standing empty. We need to bail out Birmingham City Council in order to complete the development, sell the apartments at market value, and pay off the Council’s debts so that Council Tax does not have to be raised by over 10% every year. I am a qualified accountant and business entrepreneur, so I believe I can sort out these problems quite easily.
For those eager to help, how can they get involved in the campaign?
Reform UK is still a relatively small and very new party, and we are always looking for volunteers to help out with campaigning and fund-raising. Anyone wishing to volunteer and donate can reach me, by email to [email protected], by text message to 07779 253682. I do have Facebook and X accounts but the best way to volunteer are by email and text.
Finally, I want to say a big THANK YOU for helping Reform UK get its message out. I hope that together, we can spread the word that there is a good alternative to voting Labour or the Conservatives – vote for change, vote for Reform UK.
