EXCLUSIVE: Southampton Test Reform UK 2024 General Election Candidate Answers Our Questions

John Edwards Reform UK
2024 General Election Candidate
in Southampton Test
Photo: Reform UK

 

John Edwards is the Reform UK 2024 General Election Candidate for the Southampton Test Constituency.

Here are Mr Edwards' responses to the six questions that we have asked of all candidates. They are provided in full. We are very grateful to him for providing them at this busy time for candidates and for the Reform UK party. No candidate photo has been provided yet and will be added if provided.

1. Why are you standing in this General Election?

"I am standing in this general election because I believe that Reform UK have the answers and the policies to stop the rot in Britain that has been the hallmark of the Conservatives tenure of government. Labour's policies do not inspire me because of their failure to demonstrate their costings."

2. Why are you standing for Reform UK?

"Reform UK ideals match my own."

3. What will you do in the first 100 days if elected?

"Personally, I would get to work right away, challenging local issues as to why our city has such a chronic record of maintaining council housing stock along with the documented need to provide more homes. The Solent Freeport is still not underway compared to other freeports in the country, such as Plymouth. I want to to champion Southampton as the place to come and business and to rebuild our local economy."

4. What do you think are the best top 5 policies of your party?

"The top five policies of our party in my opinion are:

1. To raise the threshold of income tax to £20k.
2. Take 20p off fuel duty.
3. Nurses and care staff to be removed from paying income tax for three years.
4. Raise the threshold of Vat & reduce corporation tax.
5. Control immigration  / stop the boats."

5. What do you think are the top 5 issues that Southampton people want addressed, and what do you intend to do about them?

No answer provided yet.

6. What track record do you have of winning campaigns?

"I have many years of experience in in all aspects of campaigning. Kick starting Reform UK here in Southampton and seeing it grow into its present shape that continues to attract new members, supporters and volunteers is so heartening. It is giving a growing hope to many within our city that we can achieve the change demanded by so many people who feel let down by the Westminster parties."

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". It's your choice.

The other candidates for Southampton Test, with their answers to our questions, are here. 

 

ANOTHER Green Candidate Refuses to Answer Questions - Katherine Barbour Green Party Candidate for Southampton Test

It's 2 out of 2 for the Green Candidates in the 2024 General Election in Southampton. And a 100% fail on democracy and leadership.

To add to the Southampton Itchen Green candidate Neil Kelly refusing to answer our basic questions, the Southampton Test Green candidate Katherine Barbour has also refused to answer our basic questions, sent to her on behalf of Southampton residents.

We have asked the exact same questions of all candidates*. They are designed to inform residents on their vote. You can see the answers across this website. They are:

1. Why are you standing in this General Election?
2. Why are you standing for the <insert party or independent here>?
3. What will you do in the first 100 days if elected?
4. What do you think are the best top 5 policies of your party?
5. What do you think are the top 5 issues that Southampton people want addressed, and what do you intend to do about them?
6. What track record do you have of winning campaigns?

But they have been refused by Ms Barbour and Mr Kelly.

So who is Katherine Barbour?

According to Ms Barbour's register of interests at Southampton City Council, Ms Barbour is a yoga teacher.

She has been a City Councillor for just over a year. It took her eight years to be elected over seven elections. Between 2015 and 2022 inclusive, Barbour stood and was not elected six times as a council candidate for Southampton City Council. Ms Barbour’s record in local elections is as follows:

2015 Green Woolston not elected
2016 Green Woolston not elected
2017 no local election
2018 Green Portswood not elected
2019 Green Portswood not elected
2020 no local election
2021 Green Portswood not elected
2022 Green Portswood not elected
2023 Green Portswood elected

Eventually, Ms Barbour was elected in 2023 in the all-out elections on the new ward boundaries for the ward of Portswood. She came top of the 3 candidates that were elected. The other two elected were Labour candidates with shorter terms. Ms Barbour pushed out the other Labour councillor, Gordon Cooper.

So perhaps whilst you may admire Ms Barbour’s persistence, it took a long time, eight years and six failed elections. 

Green Duplicity on Labour's Portswood Broadway Proposals

Plus let’s not forget, Ms Barbour's election as the first Green Councillor came after a significant intervention on the ground in the Portswood ward from Southampton Independents over the Council’s unpopular plans for Portswood Broadway, as well as our media work. 

So let's look at this issue as an example of Green Party confusion, indecision and seeming duplicity.

Our work listened to and represented the views of residents and businesses. We often heard criticism of Labour councillors and the Labour Council during our work in the area. 

There was almost universal opposition including on the doorsteps to the Labour Council's plans, however they were cooked up and whomever was involved in cooking them up. That’s why in the interests of democracy, we opposed it loudly, as that is the democratic thing to do.

Despite asking them directly at the time, what the Green Party’s stance on the Broadway proposals was, it was difficult to tell. Greens did seem to pass the buck between each other in an example of indecision and lack of leadership. 

Likewise, in a Daily Echo report, the views of the two party representatives Mr Spottiswoode and Ms Barbour seemed to contradict each other. Ms Barbour’s view seemed to both agree and disagree with the proposals too, but under the headline “Southampton Green Party slams Broadway proposals”. It was all very confusing. 

Readers will have to decide for themselves, but this yoga-like contortion of a position seems like the typical duplicity of party politicians, something all too common. It's just Green duplicity instead of Labour. Lib Dem or Tory duplicity.

And that is just one example of Green Party indecision, duplicity and lack of leadership. 

Southampton's First Green Councillor

Nevertheless, Ms Barbour was elected. Whether she survives for long as a councillor, only time will tell. Surely she should answer questions from voters, as is claimed on the Green Party website. Yet she has not answered ours.

Would you agree that the questions asked of Ms Barbour that she has refused to answer are basic questions for any serious Parliamentary Candidate? When chased, Ms Barbour claimed that she was waiting to see if other candidates were going to answer. 

The Greens Lack Answers and Lack Leadership

What leadership is this? It is the leadership of a follower, not a leader. Politics requires leadership and Ms Barbour has failed this basic test, as has Mr Kelly.

But the Greens cannot even decide who their leader is. They have two - called "co-leaders". It's unconventional. And indecisive, just like their view of the Portswood Broadway proposals and their inability to answer the most basic of questions for Southampton people to make a decision on their vote.

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". The choice is yours.

 The other candidates for Southampton Test are here.

How Can A Councillor for Kensington Represent Southampton in Parliament? Conservative Sidney Yankson Thinks He Can

 

Southampton Independents has been getting answers from candidates in the 2024 General Election. We have been requesting interviews.

There has been no response from Sidney Yankson, a Conservative councillor for Redcliffe ward on Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council in London. He is also the Conservative candidate for the East of Southampton, in the Southampton Itchen Constituency.

Perhaps Mr Yankson is busy serving the "6,000" constituents that he claims to represent. But at the same time, on his own cut-and-paste Conservative Party Parliamentary campaign website, he now claims to live in Southampton. Questions arise from this:

1. So which group of residents is Mr Yankson representing? London or Southampton?
2. How can a councillor for Kensington, 77 miles away, represent Southampton in Parliament, and do his job representing his Council constituents too? If Kensington was adjacent to Southampton, it would not be an issue. But Kensington isn't adjacent. It is 77 miles away.
   
3. And how can he be doing both these things, and be a barrister as claimed on his website and in his Register of Interests on Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council?

We would like to ask Mr Yankson, but he has not responded to our request for interview, or answered the basic questions that any serious Parliamentary Candidate should be able to answer. These are the same questions that we have asked all Southampton Itchen and Southampton Test candidates, some of the answers for which we have published from other candidates.

Bearing in mind that Councillor Yankson is Vice-Chair, Audit & Transparency Committee, we would have thought that he likes questions being answered quickly. But this is the Council in whose area the scandal of the Grenfell Disaster occurred and it is a sad fact that Conservatives still control that Council despite the disaster in 2017.

In 2023, six years after the Disaster and despite a Public Inquiry, local people still told the Council that it "had not changed or got worse". On the day that Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the General Election, the Police said there would be no prosecutions until "late 2026 at the earliest". Of course neither Mr Sunak nor the Police would try to "bury bad news" under the General Election announcement.

Perhaps Councillor Yankson has another view or more information about his Council, or on Grenfell, or on getting justice for Grenfell, or on our successful campaign for sprinklers in Southampton City Council's tower blocks, but without responses from him, it is impossible to tell.

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". The choice is yours.

The other candidates for Southampton Itchen, with their answers to our questions, are here. 

 

EXCLUSIVE: "Written Off At 18 Months Old", Southampton Conservative General Election Candidate "Wins Campaigns"

Ben Burcombe-Filer Conservative Party Candidate
for Southampton Test at the 2024 General Election
Photo: B Burcombe-Filer

When we asked Ben Burcombe-Filer, the Conservative Candidate for Southampton Test at the 2024 General Election, what track record he has of winning campaigns, he told us:

"I was written off at 18 months old, and ever since I have been told I cannot do this, or will not be able to do that. So I have been campaigning for almost my entire life, and that fact that I am writing this as Candidate for Southampton Test is purely down to the fact I win my campaigns."

This combative response from Mr Burcombe-Filer was matched in his response to being asked why he is standing in the General Election. He said:

"I am standing in this election because Southampton Test deserves a choice. Currently 75% of its councilors are Labour, with the potential of a Labour MP and Keir Starmer in number 10, all checks and balances are effectively removed.

You only have to look at Labours track record to see why this is bad news for the people of Southampton Test. The council needs to save 40m annually in a desperate attempt to stave off a section 114, something which will inevitably lead eyewatering council tax rises and cuts to services that will hammer the people the council is supposed to serve! They have not even begun trying to balance the books, because they fear reprisals at the ballot box next month.

How can they be trusted to put the people of Southampton or indeed the country first?"

The Conservative candidate in the West of Southampton is no stranger to standing in elections, having stood for Eastleigh Borough Council and Hampshire County Council over several years. He succeeded in being elected to Bishopstoke Parish Council at the May 2024 local elections, but was not elected to the other two councils.

Mr Burcombe-Filer has appeared in various media, as a private tutor and as a fund-raiser for those living with disabilities and for disability rights.

A Sky Living TV documentary in 2015 featured Mr Burcombe-Filer, titled “What the Super Tutor Saw”. Mr Burcombe-Filer has cerebral palsy, with the Southern Daily Echo saying then that he “suspects” this contributed to his struggling in getting work before leading to the private tutoring. 

Presumably this also inspired his comments about "winning campaigns" too.

He was also quoted by the Southern Daily Echo as having “tutored children of Lords, sports stars and super-rich business leaders”. Speaking about his work, into which he “fell” after graduating from Cambridge University, he says that he loves the work. 

Inews reported in 2021 that Mr Burcombe-Filer “hopes to become a Tory MP”. Realising his ambition now, this 2024 General Election is the first time that he has stood for Parliament.

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". It's your choice.

The other candidates for Southampton Test, with their answers to our questions, are here.

 

Green Party 2024 General Election Candidate Neil Kelly Refuses Questions from Southampton Itchen

Neil Kelly Southampton Itchen Candidate
Image: Screenshot of website

We would like to tell you about Neil Kelly, but there is little information available.

Southampton Independents is interviewing the candidates for the 2024 General Election. We are holding them to account and informing Southampton residents. Candidates are answering our questions.

But not all of them. The Green Party Candidate Neil Kelly has refused to be interviewed. 

Questions were sent to him, as they have been sent to other candidates, but none of them have been answered by the Green Party Candidate for Southampton Itchen. This is odd, considering that the Southampton and District Green Party website asks for questions to be sent. 

That is exactly what we have done. Yet, they have refused to answer.

So who is Neil Kelly? We would like to show a photo of him, but the Green Party has not sent us a photo, although we have asked for that, too. So the above image is a screenshot of the website. The local Green Party website is pretty much the total of material that is available about this candidate, apart from a rather amateurish Facebook account.

Amongst social media, there only appears to be this Facebook account for Mr Kelly's candidacy and nothing else. This is in stark contrast to other candidates who use social media to campaign.

Neil Kelly has stood as a council candidate over many years for Southampton City Council, and many times, but has never been elected.

Kelly has stood for:

• Labour
• Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
  
• Green Party

We have offered Mr Kelly a right of reply to the other information that we have discovered.

Mr Kelly has been asked why he thinks he was not elected. He has also been asked about the lack of social media for him, despite being a candidate for public office. And he has also been asked about Green Party candidates being dropped after probes into online posts.

We waited some time for a response from Mr Kelly or Southampton and District Green Party, but only received refusals.

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". It's your choice.

The other candidates for Southampton Itchen, with their answers to our questions, are here. 

EXCLUSIVE: Reform UK Southampton Candidate Says Country Facing A "Civilisational Moment" In The 2024 General Election

Alex Culley, Reform UK 2024 General Election Candidate
for Southampton Itchen
Photo: Alex Culley

"I decided to get off the sofa and put myself in the line of fire" says Alex Culley, Reform UK's candidate for the Southampton Itchen Constituency in the 2024 General Election.

Mr Culley says that:

"I am not a career politician. I divide my finite time between running my business, spending time with my family, and campaigning." 

and that:

"It seems like the UK is in a permanent state of managed decline."

Southampton Independents has been asking questions of the Southampton candidates for the 2024 General Election.

When asked why he is standing in this General Election, Mr Culley said:

"In a recent TV interview Professor Matthew Goodwin said that many Britons feel like their country is facing a 'civilisational moment'. I share this sentiment. To me, it seems like the UK is in a permanent state of managed decline.

Figuring that things aren’t going to change by shouting at the TV, I decided to get off the sofa and put myself in the line of fire."

When asked why he is standing for Reform UK, Mr Culley said:

"Reform is what this country desperately needs on so many levels. I started reading through Reform UK’s Contract. I felt that the programme offers hope for real change.

Ultimately, if you’re sick of the stranglehold the tired CONLAB duopoly has had on our politics, don’t vote for it. Choose Reform."

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". It's your choice.

The other candidates for Southampton Test, with their answers to our questions, are here.

Who Are The 2024 General Election Candidates in Southampton?

 

On 7th June 2024, the nominations for candidates in the 2024 General Election were declared by officers of Southampton City Council and Test Valley Borough Council.

Local residents typically see Southampton as within the City boundary, rather than what could be called "Greater Southampton" including the adjacent areas of the Waterside, Hedge End, Eastleigh, West End, Park Gate and so on. Southampton Independents typically covers this same City boundary area, as shown in our logo above.

The City boundary includes three Parliamentary Constituencies, each electing one Member of Parliament under the First Past the Post method. These are:

• Southampton Itchen, containing the East of the City of Southampton. This is named after the River Itchen that flows through the East of the City and out into Southampton Water and ultimately into the Solent.
  
• Southampton Test, containing the West of the City of Southampton. Again, this is named after the River Test that runs through or near the West of the City and out into Southampton Water.
• Romsey and Southampton North, which includes only a small part of Southampton, in the north of the City. The rest of the Constituency includes Romsey and surrounds.
  

In the Southampton Itchen Constituency, the candidates are listed here. It has been updated with the answers and non-answers from candidates, as at 16th June 2024.

In the Southampton Test Constituency, the candidates are listed here. It has been updated with the answers and non-answers from candidates, as at 16th June 2024.

In the Romsey and Southampton North Constituency, the candidates are listed here.

You can find out which Constituency you are in by going to the Write To Them website here. 

If you have questions or comments to make, or requests for explainer articles or information for stories, please get in touch here.

 

Who Are The 2024 General Election Candidates in the Romsey and Southampton North Constituency?

 

 

 

The nominations for candidates in the 2024 General Election have today been declared by officers of Test Valley Borough Council.

In the Romsey and Southampton North Constituency, the candidates, in alphabetical order of surname, are:

• Paul Barrett for Reform UK
• Geoff Cooper for the Liberal Democrats
• Christie Lambert for the Labour Party
• Caroline Nokes is The Conservative Party Candidate
• Connor Shaw for the Green Party
• Fennie Yap is an Independent candidate
   

As only a small part of Southampton is covered by this Constituency, we are only interviewing and sending questions to the Southampton Test and Southampton Itchen candidates. You can click on the posts for those constituencies to see what their candidates have said and not said.

 

Who Are The 2024 General Election Candidates in the Southampton Itchen Constituency?

 

 

 

The nominations for candidates in the 2024 General Election have today been declared by officers of Southampton City Council.

Candidates have been approached for interview, and asked questions, by Southampton Independents. You can click the links below to see their answers and non-answers.

In the Southampton Itchen Constituency, the candidates, in alphabetical order of surname, are:

• James Batho for the Liberal Democrats (16/6/24 - refused to answer any questions and refused an interview)
• Declan Clune for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (26/6/24 - answers received and published in full, no response to interview request)
• Alex Culley for Reform UK (16/6/24 all questions answered and interview published). bitternepark.info have also written about his campaign website.
  
• Neil Kelly for the Green Party (16/6/24 all questions refused and interview refused)
  
• Darren Paffey for the Labour Party (16/6/24 - no response to interview and question requests, 28/6/24 still no response). bitternepark.info reported on the Labour campaign launch.
  
• Sidney Yankson is The Conservative Party Candidate (16/6/24 - no response to requests, 28/6/24 still no response). Mr Yankson, the Conservative candidate who is a Kensington councillor and who has failed to answer any of our questions, also did not respond to Jason Lewis from the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The Conservatives are predicted by many polls to do very badly in this Election. We asked Mr Yankson how can he be a councillor 77 miles away and claim to live in Southampton. True to form, Yankson did not answer. He did go on TV though and is quoted praising the Conservatives by bitternepark.info.
   

Over at bitternepark.info, they have written a report on the hustings event at Oasis Academy Mayfield. A hustings is a public meeting where candidates are asked questions. They noted low attendance. 

And via the Local Democracy Reporting Service's Jason Lewis, bitternepark.info also have a report with information from candidates.

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". It's your choice.

 

Who Are The 2024 General Election Candidates in the Southampton Test Constituency?

 

 

The nominations for candidates in the 2024 General Election have today been declared by officers of Southampton City Council.

In the Southampton Test Constituency, the candidates, in alphabetical order of surname, are:

• Katherine Barbour for the Green Party (16/6/24 - interview refused and refused to answer any questions)
  
• Ben Burcombe-Filer is the Conservative Party Candidate (16/6/24 - all questions answered and interview refused)
  
• John Edwards for Reform UK (16/6/24 - 5 out of 6 questions answered and interview yet to be scheduled)
  
• Maggie Fricker for Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (16/6/24 - answers provided in full).
  
• Thomas Gravatt for the Liberal Democrats (16/6/24 - refused to answer any questions and refused an interview)
  
• Satvir Kaur for the Labour Party (28/6/24 still no response, 23/6/24 second request sent, 16/6/24 - no response to request for interview and the six basic questions asked of all candidates)
  
• Wajahat Shaukat for the Workers Party of Great Britain (29/6/24 candidate confirmed will respond to questions, 28/6/24 no response, 23/6/24 contact details obtained and request sent to candidate, 16/6/24 no contact details - link to party page here)
  

Candidates have been approached for interview, and asked questions, by Southampton Independents. You can click the links for their answers and non-answers.

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". It's your choice.