The three main political parties in Tunbridge Wells all say they have a good chance of winning the seat, despite the fact that the constituency has been held by the Conservatives since it was formed in 1974.
The Liberal Democrats have focused sizable resources on Tunbridge Wells as a key target seat, having just won overall control of the Borough Council.
The party selected Mike Martin (pictured below) as their new candidate nearly two years ago and he says he spoke to 5,600 local residents before the campaign even started.
Mike Martin says his skills are “leadership” and “bringing organisations and communities together”. He is a former army officer, led a charity and has written various books.
But in recent weeks he has been criticised by his opponents for failing to appear with the other candidates to answer public questioning at local hustings events.
Mike Martin missed the Soroptimists women’s group hustings event (attended by 100 voters), the hospitality hustings (60 attending) and also decided to leave the other five parliamentary candidates to attend the Tunbridge Wells Church Hustings (see below).
A Lib Dem spokesman said: “Because this was an unexpected “snap” election, with very little time until polling day, Mike Martin and his team had had to make careful choices about how to prioritise his time, including holding as many one to one discussions as possible with local residents on their doorsteps.”
The spokesmen pointed to Mike’s appearance instead on a BBC Radio Kent half-hour programme on June 21st where candidates answered questions chosen by the BBC from those submitted by the public.
Mike also agreed to a 20 minute interview with me for the community station West Kent Radio, which is available here to watch on YouTube.
Speaking in that interview, Mike Martin said he wanted to get the town centre “sorted out”, with new housing paired with infrastructure. The Lib Dems are pledging 8,000 more GPs and want a guarantee that for urgent cases a GP appointment will happen within 24 hours.
On the rapidly rising UK population, Mike Martin said: “We don’t have targets on immigration. We are focused on training and paying our workforce properly, which naturally will bring down the levels of people that come into the country”.
On climate emissions, Mike Martin proposes insulating more homes and halting new North Sea oil and gas projects. He opposes Gatwick’s planned expansion – but he also surprisingly wants to cut the cost of flying for most people.
The Lib Dems say that “frequent flyers” (who take more than two return flights a year) will be punished with extra taxes, but Air Passenger Duty should be abolished for people taking one or two return flights a year, arguing “the average family takes two return flights a year …people who work very hard should be able to take holidays”.
He opposes Labour’s tax on private school fees and there would be no new housing on the Green Belt.
The Labour candidate is Hugo Pound (above), who has lived in the town for 32 years. He says he has good listening skills, being a psychologist by training.
Hugo Pound is a former governor of Judd School and Skinners Kent Academy. He has been a Borough Councillor for 5 years and has been the councillor in charge of planning for the past two years.
He dismisses the Liberal Democrats claim to be the main challenger to the Conservatives, pointing out that Labour came second to the Conservatives in both the 2015 and 2017 General Elections.
Hugo Pound says: “Small parties like the Lib Dems do well in local elections – and they typically don’t do well in General Elections. Here in Tunbridge Wells, the polls are suggesting that all three of the main parties are very close together.”
On the NHS, Hugo Pound says that Labour will be pragmatic, using the private sector to reduce the waiting lists in hospitals and moving more people out of hospitals into social care.
He admits that Labour’s new taxes on private school education have been “contentious” for some voters. Labour has promised that private schools will start paying business rates, while a 20% VAT tax will also be added to school fees.
Hugo Pound points out 93% of children attend state schools and he says that the state system needs extra funding and “that money has to come from somewhere”. He says if children are benefiting from “special needs” provision at a private school then the fees will not be liable to the VAT tax.
He said if any staff at private schools lose their jobs then “they will come into the state system – if they are dedicated to teaching, they will teach within the state system.” Hugo Pound’s full answers are here:
On climate emissions, Labour would – like the Lib Dems – halt new developments of North Sea oil and gas projects.
Hugo Pound rejects Gatwick expansion and also rejects the Lib Dem proposal to cut the taxes on air tickets paid by most people. He said the Lib Dem policy: “doesn’t make any sense…we need to reduce the amount of air traffic that we see in our skies…it is filthy.”
On planning, Hugo Pound says the widely reported idea that Labour will impose more house building on green fields is wrong. Instead he says: “there will be more consultation, more recognition of Neighbourhood Development Plans, more respect for the consultation process with residents.”
The Conservative Party had to act fast to choose a new candidate after Greg Clark (above) announced on 24th May that he had decided not to run again after 19 years as the town’s MP.
The Conservatives chose Neil Mahapatra (below) who believes his business experience would benefit investment in the town.
Mr Mahapatra has set up companies in fast-growing markets from electric vehicle charging to rural internet and medicinal cannabis.
He says he “loves” the constituency having been brought up near Maidstone and enjoyed watching Kent county cricket at Tunbridge Wells. His mother was a doctor at Pembury Hospital.
Despite the UK already having amassed £2.7 trillion of debt, the Conservative manifesto promises £17bn of new tax cuts. Neil Mahapatra says the economy is now growing and that does leave room for tax cuts.
He thinks the NHS needs to improve efficiency by reducing tiers of management, rather than necessarily have even more funding. Spending on the NHS was increased from £150bn in 2010 to around £180bn a year currently. Neil Mahapatra’s full answers are here:
Neil Mahapatra explained that he believes that the Conservatives have “made huge strides” in improving standards of state education since they took power in 2010. He said the proportion of schools ranked good or outstanding has been lifted from 68% to 88%.
He opposes Labour’s new taxes on private schools, which he says will impose more stress on state schools as some parents pull their children out of the private education due to the increased fees.
Neil Mahapatra says he voted to remain in the EU but he now opposes the Liberal Democrats idea of working towards rejoining the EU single market with free movement of workers between the UK and EU.
He opposes Gatwick expansion plans but defends the continued exploitation of fossil fuels from the North Sea on the grounds that it makes us less dependent on fuel from Russia and the Middle East.
Neil Mahapatra says Labour are likely to win nationally, but says Tunbridge Wells needs him to be elected as a strong MP who is able to oppose Labour’s tax plans and push back against the ideas of the Liberal Democrat run Tunbridge Wells Borough council.
The Reform UK candidate in Tunbridge Wells is John Gager (above). He is an IT specialist who has lived in the constituency for 12 years. He says legal and illegal immigration is “out of control” and he wants net immigration to be cut to zero.
John Gager highlights the other key Reform UK policies of personal tax cuts worth £59bn, “making work pay”, promoting small business and clearing NHS waiting lists within two years.
He also wants to end Net Zero climate targets (with more UK oil and gas production), to “remove destructive gender and woke ideologies from schools” and provide young people with help with student debts.
The Green Party candidate in Tunbridge Wells is John Hurst (pictured above). He promises voters that his party’s programme would create “a greener, fairer country”.
In the party’s latest internet posting, John Hurst says: “We live in one of the richest countries on the planet, and yet nurses are using food banks, our children’s schools are crumbling, a roof over our heads is all too often unaffordable, and a hospital appointment or a dentist is like gold dust. Our promise to you is that all this can change”.
The Green Party programme involves a huge rise in public spending and an extra £ 170bn a year in personal taxation, hitting earners over £50,000pa and taxing more pension contributions.
The sixth Tunbridge Wells parliamentary candidate is an independent, Hassan Kassem (above). He says he is interested in social justice. He promises “a vision of hope and a platform for change.”
Hassan Kassem’s website declares: “Over the last three years, I worked at a national charity, promoting a new kind of policymaking that centred on public participation. I will set up local citizens’ assemblies and forums to hear your concerns and ideas and involve you in creating the change we want to see”.
Hassan Kassem proposes a “Green New Deal” with nationalisation of energy, water, rail and mail. He wants more support for local entrepreners and British farmers, saying he is shocked that just 17% of fruit and 55% of vegetables consumed in the UK are grown here.
Another way of learning more about the candidates is to listen to the latest edition of the podcast WEST KENT TALKING, which is available on Apple podcasts and other podcast platforms. You can hear interviews with most of the candidates in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.
