Rutland and Stamford election candidates face voter questions at hustings in Oakham

Parliamentary candidates have set out their priorities for the first 100 days in the job if they win a seat in next week’s election.

Five of the six candidates standing in the newly-formed Rutland and Stamford constituency attended a hustings at All Saints’ Church in Oakham on Tuesday evening.

Emma Baker (Green), Christopher Clowes (Reform UK), Alicia Kearns (Conservative), James Moore (Liberal Democrat) and Joe Wood (Labour) faced questions from the public during the 75-minute event. Rejoin EU candidate Joanna Burrows was unable to attend due to work commitments.

The Rev Shakeel Nurmahi, assistant curate with the Oakham Team, hosted the debate. The candidates were asked nine questions about climate change, healthcare, affordable housing, taxes, contaminated waterways, political integrity and their ambitions.

Asked what they would focus on during the first 100 days of the job, Emma Baker told the audience: “I would want to get to know you. I have a lot of learning to do because without listening to you, how can I know what you want me to do?”

Joe Wood said: “I would be getting out and talking to people. I would also start work on a national cancer taskforce.”

Christopher Clowes would focus on bringing down fuel prices ahead of the winter while Alicia Kearns, who was Rutland’s MP until the election was called, wants to drive the length of the A1 with National Highways to look at safety issues, continue with her dementia campaign and work on a flood resilience programme.

James Moore did not provide an answer in the allocated time.

The candidates were then given a few minutes to answer a set of three questions from members of the audience. Their responses and aims included:

Emma Baker (Green) - improve energy infrastructure to create jobs and tackle climate change, give incentives for people to work as GPs and dentists, introduce a fair politics act and replacing the House of Lords with an elected second chamber, prioritise brownfield sites for housing developments, ensure education is about “improving people’s love of learning rather than high-stakes tests” and introduce a wealth tax.

Christopher Clowes (Reform UK) - use private healthcare facilities as well as the NHS to reduce waiting times, increase salaries for frontline health workers and train more people each year, prioritise brownfield sites for housing, build flats in villages as well as bigger homes, ensure affordable housing is actually affordable, allow greater use of natural fertilisers in farming, bring down fuel prices and make sure everyone has “an even playing field”.

Alicia Kearns (Conservative) - having served as MP for the Melton and Rutland constituency, Alicia outlined the party’s achievements including decarbonising faster than other countries, increasing GP appointments in Rutland, securing a new treatment centre at Stamford Hospital, supporting 50% of jobs in Rutland and Melton through the furlough scheme and increasing the monitoring of waterways to 100%.

James Moore (Lib Dem) - introduce a legal right for patients to see a GP in 24 hours for emergencies and seven days for non-emergencies, employ 8,000 new doctors, create a national plan for solar panels and heat pumps, reform the voting system and change planning regulations to make sure affordable homes are actually affordable and enough of them are built in new developments.

Joe Wood (Labour) - reform GP booking systems to avoid 8am phone queues and increase the number of face to face appointments, reform planning laws to use brownfield sites and “give first dibs” on new housing to local people, reduce the amount of time for criminal cases to be heard in court and tackle problems in education such as delays in children receiving an education, health and care plan (ECHP), the pressure of Ofsted inspections and staff retention.

After the questions, each candidate gave a closing statement.

Emma Baker said: “I want to do politics differently and it’s a privilege to be the first Green candidate to stand for Stamford and Rutland. The Green party wants to be about people and planet.”

Christopher Clowes said: “I believe in the future of this country. We need to get affordable housing, to get prices down and to get back to the standard of living we had 10 years ago. We want people to come here because we are successful and not for the welfare state.”

Alicia Kearns said: “I have always put Rutland first. I put everything on the line for my job but that’s how you get things done. Even if you hate my politics, I hope you see that I will put you first.”

James Moore said: “The reality is that in this area, the Lib Dems are the main challenger. We have a real chance of being the official opposition in the next parliament which can raise questions about why we are in such a state of decline.”

Joe Wood said: “I have no animosity towards the Conservatives. It’s about how the past 14 years have gone and it has been disastrous - cancer treatment, roads, transport, dentistry. Nothing seems to be looking good. It’s not down to bad people but bad ideas, bad economics and bad ideology. If you want to see a change in this constituency, lend your vote to me.”

The candidates will attend a second hustings tomorrow (Thursday, June 27) at St George’s Church, Stamford, at 7pm. It will be hosted by The Rev Martyn Taylor.