1. Do you support plans to build 12,000 homes across Tendring?

Like many people who grew up in Tendring, I’m not likely to be able to afford to buy here any time soon. Too many people live in overcrowded rental accommodation and we do need to build more houses to bring prices down. So, I support housebuilding here, but it needs to be accompanied by better infrastructure and more jobs in the Harwich area.


2. What can be done to tackle the rise in crime and protect our local police?

The first thing we need to do is to put the streetlights back on throughout the night. The police can’t catch burglars if they can’t see 2ft in front of their faces.Secondly, we need to invest in policing, not cut budgets to the bone. Labour would abolish police and crime commissioners and put the savings into protecting front-line services and keeping stations open.


3. How would you help to bring wind farm opportunities to Harwich?

Wind farms are a vital source of highly-skilled jobs for Harwich. If we want to maximise our advantage, we need to learn from the best, which for windpower means the Germans and the Danes. I speak Danish and as your MP, I’d work to build links with our neighbours across the North Sea to bring investment and employment opportunities to the town.


4. How does your party plan to cut unemployment in the constituency?

Unemployment in Harwich isn’t because people don’t want jobs, it’s because there aren’t enough of them locally. Labour will prioritise investment to create more jobs and increase skills. I’d campaign for the A120 to be upgraded so Bathside Bay can be developed and safeguard our port facilities.

Labour will tackle youth unemployment by guaranteeing a job for unemployed 18 to 24-year-olds for over a year.

5. What can be done to tackle the high levels of deprivation in parts of Harwich and the surrounding area?

Work has always been the best route out of poverty, but too many jobs don’t pay enough for people to live on, let alone raise a family. Labour will raise the minimum wage to £8, give tax breaks to encourage companies to pay the living wage, abolish zero-hours contracts, stand up for workers and ensure the State doesn’t subsidise poverty pay through the benefits system.


6. What do you suggest to alleviate hazardous parking in the villages around Manningtree Railway Station and congestion at the underpass?

The problems at Manningtree stem back to when the railway was first built by a train company doing things on the cheap (obviously, things are different now...) As your MP, I’d lobby Network Rail for a proper bridge and tunnel to remove the bottleneck. In the meantime, Essex highways should consider all options to minimise delays, including putting in traffic lights on the roundabout.


7. What can be done to boost tourism in the constituency?

 Harwich Town Council works incredibly hard to attract tourism to the town, but needs more support. We need better roads so people concentrate on the beauty of Dedham Vale, not the potholes, government support for the ferry industry so tourists pass through Old Harwich instead of flying from Stansted. And we need an MP who will act as a champion for this area.


8. What are your favourite book, film and song?

Book: Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory. Film: The Princess Bride. Song: Brakes, No Return.


9. Would your choice of tipple be a glass of champagne or a pint of beer?

Definitely beer. I’m a founder member of Labour Friends of Real Ale and have been known to brew my own beer. It has to be said my success with that has been mixed at best, so I prefer to stick with the products of some of our excellent local breweries.


10. What’s your favourite tourist destination in the constituency?

It’s difficult to choose but if I had to pick one destination, it’d be Dedham Vale, where I’ve got happy memories of long walks with my grandfather when I was a child.