The candidates running for the Tewkesbury constituency in the May 7 2015 General Election
Conservative candidate for Tewkesbury and current MP
‘Laurence was born in March 1958 and is married to Susan with one daughter, Jemma, aged 15. As a charity fund-raising, public relations and special events consultant he has raised over £1 million for charity. He was previously a company director, factory owner and work study engineer. As a consultant he has worked for over 80 companies.
Following widespread flooding in Tewkesbury throughout the 2000 decade, Robertson spoke out against building on flood plains.
Robertson voted against the legislation for same-sex marriage in 2013. In 2014 Robertson along with six other Conservative Party MPs voted against the Equal Pay (Transparency) Bill which would require all companies with more than 250 employees to declare the gap in pay between the average male and average female salaries.
Politically, he is a confirmed Eurosceptic and active in the EU pressure group Better Off Out and he is interested in the following areas: Law and Order, Education, European Policy, the Constitution, Small Businesses, the Economy and Rural Issues. He is also a member of the right-wing pressure group The Freedom Association.’
Liberal Democrats candidate for Tewkesbury
‘Alistair lives in Cheltenham and was the Lib Dem Candidate for Tewkesbury in 2010 when the Lib Dem vote increased to 19,162 compared with 25,472 for the Conservatives. He teaches English at a further education college and is a voluntary English Teacher at Brockworth and Whaddon Community Projects.
He has a strong record of community action and he has campaigned to reduce the risk of flooding in Gloucestershire and to give Councils more powers to prevent building in high flood risk areas. He opposes proposals to downgrade A&E services at Cheltenham General Hospital and he would like to see better NHS facilities at Winchcombe, a new health centre at Churchdown and a doctor’s surgery retained in Prestbury.
Alistair opposes plans to build over 30,000 houses in and around Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury by 2031 as excessive. He wants councils to take a more pro-active role in developing brown field sites to provide new housing.
Alistair supports improvements to Tewkesbury Town Centre to assist tourism and shopping and he opposes the potential loss of town centre parking. He is a strong supporter of Ashchurch for Tewkesbury Train Station and he would like an evening bus service between Winchcombe and Cheltenham.
Alistair has supported local campaigns to improve road safety on the B4077 near Alderton and the Big Local community project which aims to provide improvements to St Peters and The Moors in Cheltenham. He also attends meetings of Bishops Cleeve Neighbourhood Crime Group and Transition Cleeve.’
Labour candidate for Tewkesbury
‘Ed has spent most of his life in Gloucestershire: he was born in Cheltenham, grew up in Witcombe where his Mum still lives, and now lives in Brockworth with his family.
Ed is committed to this area. He was elected onto his local Parish Council in 2010, and is a governor, for the Tewkesbury constituency, on the 2gether NHS Trust. He is also a primary school governor. He worked as an aid worker in the former Yugoslavia in the mid-1990s, and continues to volunteer with organisations that tackle domestic abuse.
He is passionately committed to making a difference, feeling that politics cannot be the reserve only of those with money. It cannot be the realm of those who spread hatred and blame and a cult-like worship of their leader.
There is media cynicism and doubt in the air, our economy is struggling, any initiative or difference is stifled. In public there is apathy. It needs someone with true, real-life experience and passion who is capable of reaching out across the constituency and bringing better representation to this unique part of Gloucestershire.
It was his experiences in the early part of the Tory-LibDem government that pushed him to join the Labour party in 2011. He stood for Labour in the County Council elections in 2013, and the 2014 Brockworth Borough by-election when he pushed the LibDems into third place in a seat they previously held. It was the aftermath of this election that enthused him to take a stand and fight the elections of 2015. He was selected as Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate in late 2013.’
UK Independence Party for Tewkesbury
“Stuart Adair pledges:
I will be open and honest with you at all times.
I will represent your views. You come ahead of party politics.
I will meet with you every month at various locations and seek your views on up coming debates.
I will always minimise my operating costs and ensure that every penny spent represents value for money.
I will present my expenses to you each month and be completely open and transparent about all expenditure.”
Green Party for Tewkesbury
‘Jemma Clarke believes that the bedroom tax has forced many social housing tenants into private accommodation, increasing the cost of welfare whilst removing housing security for those people affected. The GP would introduce rent controls to stop profiteering from housing assets, whilst also scrapping the bedroom tax and the right to buy, which feeds the bankers’ desire to invest in assets rather than businesses, and helps to push up the price of housing.’
On flooding, Jemma Clarke said that the Coalition Government had cut the budget for flood defences, even though they would return £8 to the Treasury for every £1 spent. There are high-tech solutions we should be utilising, and we need to pay for.’
