Political battles in your constituency

At first glance true-blue East Worthing and Shoreham seems an odds-on bet for Tim Loughton to retain his seat for a fifth term.

The Conservative MP scooped up almost half of all votes balloted in 2010 in a seat that has always been Tory since its creation in 1997.

But the unknown coming into the election will be the performance of Ukip who may well be hoping the constituency could be an outside target for a sensational victory.

The constituency will also be one of only 13 in the country to have a National Health Action Party candidate and the only one in Sussex.

For Ukip to win, it would require a mammoth turnaround in just five years from the 6.2% of the vote that candidate Mike Glennon picked up five years ago.

But the party has grown in the intervening years and is now the second party behind the Conservatives on both Adur District and West Sussex County councils.

Their candidate Mr Glennon has considerable name recognition with local voters as a serving county councillor.

The NHS is possibly the hottest issue when it comes to this election and possibly more so in this constituency where part of Southlands Hospital has been sold off for housing and the recent controversy over the proposed outsourcing of the £235 million MSK contract to Bupa.

With an older-than-average population, concerns about social care are also high on people’s agendas which may lead some to Labour’s corner with their Time To Care Fund while the Conservatives pension reform could also be a big vote winner.

Long-standing MP Tim Loughton has endured an action-packed last parliament having been sacked as children’s minister in 2012 and engaged in a long-running tri-cornered dispute with Sussex Police and resident Kieran Francis.

But he remains a powerful voice locally, a passionate campaigner on child sex abuse and his tireless campaigning on the A27 looks set to finally bear fruit.

Liberal Democrats’ election plans were thrown out of the window last month when candidate Jemima Bland, who had been campaigning as a candidate for more than two years ahead of the election date, was forced to drop out from the race due to ill health.

Avuncular and popular councillor Bob Smytherman has answered his party’s call at the last minute and should be able to give a respectable showing considering the huge goodwill he has gained locally from roles as Worthing’s mayor and town crier.

Candidates

Tim Macpherson – Labour

I run my own digital publishing business and am married with three children.

I am a marine conservationist and have lived in Sussex most of my life.

As Labour’s candidate in East Worthing and Shoreham I will fight for the majority of people on the wrong side of the Tory-LibDem economic recovery.

The richest 10% got tax reductions but it’s another story for the rest of us.

Prices have been rising much faster than wages and rents have rocketed – there just aren’t enough affordable houses.

Labour will do better than that.

We’ll make sure everyone gets a living wage, we’ll build 200,000 houses and we’ll change the rules so nobody is forced onto a zero-hours contract.

Our banks need reform but this government let bankers off the hook, we must never again have to pay for bankers’ mistakes.

Labour will make the privatised utilities work for all of us, with much tighter regulation.

And we’ll stop our NHS being sold off.

My parents devoted their working lives to the NHS and I care passionately about saving it.

Everyone knows the NHS cannot survive more years of Tory misrule.

Only Labour will safeguard the NHS as a properly-funded public service free at the point of use.

Mike Glennon – UKIP

I want to bring confidence to the residents of East Worthing and Shoreham that their MP is willing to hammer away on their behalf at our mountain of political inertia.

They also deserve an MP, who is not afraid to ruffle the feathers of our local government, simply because it is all controlled by his own party.

Political monopoly, as we have seen it here in Adur, Worthing and across West Sussex, breeds despotism and undermines the true concept of democratic representation. UKIP has brought a genuine breath of fresh air to British politics, it’s time to introduce it right here.

Having led the main opposition at West Sussex County Council for nearly two years, I have had a valuable insight into how the British political model works. One ruling clique, ironically with a minority of the popular vote, dictates everything and minorities can go hang as far as they are concerned, despite the fact that those minority parties are supported by the majority of electors.

Only when voters wake up and have the courage to vote for what they truly believe in – rather than lapse back into the eternal see-saw of Tory-Labour tactical voting – will we see MP’s willing to listen to what the public are saying.

Dr Carl Walker – National Health Action Party

The NHS is the single most important issue to people around the country and locally.

In recent months in our constituency we have seen Worthing Hospital A&E services come under threat due to the private sell-off of services and we’ve seen longer than ever waits for GP appointments. This has to stop now.

I grew up in Shoreham and live in Worthing, I am a lecturer at the University of Brighton and have worked in community mental health for the last 10 years.

Both of my children were born in Worthing hospital and I and my family have received wonderful health care from Worthing and Southlands hospitals and from our GPs in the areas.

The NHA Party has been formed by doctors, nurses, paramedics and ordinary people who’ve come together to defend and improve the NHS.

We launched the Party in 2012 because we were so concerned and outraged by the Government forcing through a massive, multi-billion pound NHS reorganisation that no one wanted and no one voted for.

The impact of that reorganisation is becoming clear – funding cuts, hospital closures, increased A&E waiting times, difficulties getting GP appointments, creeping privatisation and billions of pounds wasted on bureaucracy rather than being spent on patients.

The bottom line is worse care for patients.

The future of the NHS as we know it is under threat.

This year you can vote for someone committed to saving it.

This is the reason that I am standing for the NHA Party.

So many people have lost faith in the main parties and the career politicians who no longer represent them and feel that they could only vote for the ‘least worst’ candidate. This is how I felt.

This year it is different.

James Doyle – Green

I want to be the MP for East Worthing and Shoreham because I want the best possible future for the area I and my family live in.

I've lived here since 1987, worked here, send my children to local schools, and I know what problems and issues face our community.

I was first elected as a councillor in Worthing in 1995, and have a strong interest in planning, protecting our coastline and downland environment, and education provision.

I've not been afraid to speak my mind, and go against the crowd, and my principles are strong.

When the Liberal Democrats betrayed what they and I stood for, I left the party.

If elected, I will make sure that the NHS is returned to public service, not privatised, as we've seen with Worthing Hospital contracts.

I will campaign for proper transport improvements, including renationalising the rail services, and I will never vote for an A27 bypass through the Downs.

I will be your voice to ensure that we have proper flood defences on the Adur, that our coastline is fully protected, and that we face up to the reality of climate change.

Tim Loughton – Conservative

I have had the privilege to represent the people of East Worthing and Adur since 1997.

As someone who was born, brought up and educated in Sussex I have always stood up in Parliament for the interests of local people, young and old, and regardless of their political allegiance or none.

Most recently my lobbying over many years has at last led to the Government giving the go ahead to the much needed improvements to our congested A27.

Through my popular weekly street surgeries, monthly newsletters, public meetings and social media I have always been a high profile MP making myself as accessible as possible to all my constituents. As a former Minister for Children I continue to champion positive engagement with our young people and work closely with vulnerable children in particular.

In the next parliament, I will be working to safeguard this Government’s long-term economic plan which has brought unemployment in the constituency down to 1.3%, ensuring we hold a straight in/out referendum which only a Conservative Government can deliver, I will continue working with our excellent local NHS staff to make sure they stay safe and able to cope with the growing demand and make sure we resist overdevelopment on our local open strategic gaps.

Bob Smytherman – Liberal Democrats

Following the last minute decision of our prospective candidate Jemima Bland to stand down for personal reasons, I decided it was time I put myself forward as a potential MP for the area in which I was born, grew up and educated.

Having been election agent for the Liberal Democrats for the last few General Elections I thought it was time I stood myself following the success of our party in Coalition putting aside party differences for the sake of the country to deliver a strong, stable Government anchored in the centred-ground delivering fairness for the residents of East Worthing and Shoreham constituency.

I grew up in the constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham having been born in Lancing, attending Boundstone nursery and later being educated at Boundstone Comprehensive school in the 1980’s, before moving to Worthing where I am living today.

Despite leaving school with little in the way of academic qualifications I spent most of my working life at Old Nick’s Burger Bar in Worthing after leaving college, before starting my own business in 2000, running a coffee shop concession in Courts furniture store in Shoreham.

Outside of politics I am currently governor of Alternative Provision College, a trustee of mental health charity Coastal West Sussex Mind, and also a member of local charity Guild Care.

In addition I was the 97th Mayor of the Borough of Worthing for 2013/14 and became known as the #coolmayor for my use of social media catapulting the mayoral role into the 21st Century and to a new younger demographic.

I was a very popular Mayor who carried out a record number of civic duties and became the People’s Mayor with my friendly approachable manner.

I now look forward to the next challenge of representing the area at Westminster and being part of the next Coalition Government.

Get your questions answered

The Argus debates have captured the imagination of our readers with all the tickets for our first event being snapped in less than a week.

Tomorrow, from 7pm at The Thistle Brighton Hotel, five parliamentary candidates from the five main parties will try to convince you, the reader, that they are the right person to send to Westminster.

If you have a question for the city’s parliamentary candidates next Tuesday – and even if you can’t make the event yourself – then email them to neil.vowles@theargus.co.uk and we will try and get as many answered on the night as possible.

Then on Thursday, April 23, at the same time and location, our focus will turn to the council elections which are likely to be as close as the battle in many Sussex constituencies and across the country. To book your ticket before they all go visit theargus.co.uk/debate2015 or contact the newsdesk 01273 544512.