From local to national

Cllr Kevin Foster (Con) Coventry - PPC for Coventry South
As a Coventrian (pictured second from left), I am passionate about my city and its people: that is what drove me to become a city councillor and why I am standing for Parliament.

 I have never been one for sitting around discussing political theory, and I believe practical action is the way you make a difference. I enjoy my role as a councillor immensely, yet there are so many more things you can do for local people as their MP.

Over the last year, I have campaigned on issues such as the future of Jaguar LandRover, whose Whitley engineering plant is in my ward, and to bring new investment to Coventry – campaigns that would have more strength if I could give them the support they needed at Westminster, not just Coventry.

I believe that being a local councillor gives you a range of skills that make it easier to hit the ground running if elected to Parliament, particularly if like me you already represent many of your prospective constituents on their council. You know your area, you know its people, and you will already have strong links with partner organisations like the police. Likewise, all councillors have an understanding of the challenges faced in producing balanced budgets while dealing with competing demands on resources, something that will be vital in the next parliament.

Cllr Bassam Mahfouz (Lab) Ealing - PPC for Ealing Central and Acton
Most elected politicians will agree that they entered politics because they want to make a difference. As a councillor you can certainly do that, not only at a casework level, but by changing your borough with policy and funding decisions that can alter life chances and opportunities for local residents.

While I saw the beating heart of British politics as Parliament from an early age, what led me to seek election to Westminster was seeing world-class MPs such as Karen Buck (Regent’s Park and Kensington North) and Steve Pound (Ealing North) in action. I want to be a strong local voice that can embody and deliver the change that people want to see in the area we live in and that I have grown up in, by supporting and speaking up on behalf of local residents, as well as influencing national policy in order to deliver at a local level.

Being a councillor (pictured above) has given me invaluable experience in dealing with council officers; working with, coordinating and campaigning alongside residents; leading in heated debates in the chamber; scrutinising, analysing and holding to account the work of the executive; working with the media; and using the feedback I receive from residents to both influence policy in opposition and put together a platform of policies as part of a manifesto.

For me, being an MP is the ability to find solutions to people’s problems and turning those ideas into reality.

Cllr Alison Moore (Lab) Barnet -PPC for Finchley and Golders Green
I made the decision to stand as a parliamentary candidate because I believe that, if I am fortunate enough to be elected, I can use my professional experience, my background as a local councillor  and my political convictions to make a difference.

I spent the best part of 20 years as a research scientist and lecturer – something I really enjoyed – but it was getting involved in my local community and politics that inspired me. I became a councillor 12 years ago, and discovered just what a difference you can make by listening to local people, working to make sure council services meet the needs of the community you represent, and working with fellow councillors and MPs to get things done.

As a councillor, I’ve had the opportunity to experience life in administration and opposition, tackling a range of portfolios from education and children to environment and council performance. And as leader of the Labour group in Barnet, I’ve been able to broaden that experience, working with councillors and MPs from other areas.

I’ve continued to be an active campaigner and believe that getting out there, talking and listening to people and translating that into action, is the best way to fight the erosion of confidence in the democratic process. With the retirement of Rudi Vis as MP for Finchley and Golders Green, I have the chance – if I’m elected – not only to continue to represent my local community in Parliament but perhaps also to put my background in science and technology to good use.

Cllr Adrian Ramsay (Green) Norwich  - PPC for Norwich South
Green party candidates across the country are playing a crucial role in helping to get a fresh voice into Parliament that is so desperately needed. I am standing (pictured right) because I passionately believe that we need Green policies to be pursued at national level.

We need Green MPs to stand up against the increased corporate influence over our schools and hospitals; to propose our policy to create a million new lasting jobs in industries that will help us develop a more sustainable, healthy society; and to argue that the unfair university tuition fees system should be scrapped and replaced by a grants-based system, where higher education is funded as a public service through increasing income tax for the highest earners.

Going from being a local councillor to standing for MP feels like a natural progression. After seven years as a councillor and leader of the largest group of Green party councillors in the country, I feel I have gained substantial experience of not only representing residents, but also of leading councillors in a hung authority.

This experience has put me in a good position for maximising the influence of Green MPs in a hung Parliament – which could well happen.

Cllr Henry Smith (Con) West Sussex  - PPC for Crawley
Being a councillor for more than a dozen years and West Sussex county council leader since 2003 has been a great privilege and, I believe, a worthwhile role.

Increasingly, however, this has been tempered with a frustration that I can only nuance policy and tax levels, rather than make more decisions that really make a positive impact on people’s lives.

This is because we live under one of the most centralised systems in the democratic world where local government has increasingly become just local administration of Whitehall departments.

If I am lucky to be elected as an MP later this year, I will aim to make the strong case for local government and local people as part of a control shift from the centre to the resident.

It will be interesting, however, to go from being responsible for a billion pound budget and important public services for 780,000 people, to a backbench parliamentarian; and I am aware that I will be going from being a somewhat big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a large pond!

Cllr Adam Symons (Lib Dem) Torridge  - PPC for Torridge and West Devon
You can go only so far with a career before you start asking yourself whether you are being effective.

I had always wanted to help make the world a fairer, freer and greener place to live. Having worked in the environmental field for many years, there came a point where I challenged whether what I was doing was making the most of what I had to offer.

I thought long and hard about how best to harness my skills for the maximum benefit, and decided that representing people was the way to go. My first step in learning how to represent people effectively was to stand to be a local councillor in my home patch.

In some ways, being a local councillor can be harder then being a full-time paid MP. You try to represent everyone fairly and rigorously. However, you often lack the time and the resources to make things happen. You can also get mired in difficult planning decisions, where you neither have the knowledge nor experience to know which side to take.

However, I have learnt how to effectively campaign and make people sit up and take notice. I know the importance of impartiality when representing people.

My aim is to put my skills and intellect towards common sense solutions and pragmatic reform. If I can translate my work as a councillor to that of an MP, I hope that Torridge and West Devon will be a better place for us all.