As part of our extensive coverage for General Election 2024 – Ealing decides, EALING.NEWS is speaking to all candidates standing and inviting them to explain who they are and why they want your vote on 4 July 2024.
Steve Chilcott, Reform UK candidate for Ealing Southall writes:
“I am delighted that Rishi Sunak has finally called a General Election. The country has been failed by both the Government and the Opposition and people are crying out for change. Reform UK can provide that crucial change.
“I was pleased to attend this morning’s launch of Reform UK’s national campaign for the General Election. This was held in Central London and was presented by the Reform UK Leader, Richard Tice, Deputy Leader, Ben Habib and Ann Widdecombe, Reform UK spokesperson for Immigration and Justice. Lee Anderson was also in attendance. Ben stated that the Prime Minister has called this early election as “every day that went by … Sunak was getting weaker”, it “symbolises how failed he has been”. Ann stated that one crucial issue in the General Election is going to be uncontrolled immigration, and the impacts it’s having”. She presented the new immigration figures which show 1.2 million people arrived during 2023, “a population the size of Manchester has come into the country in one year”. Richard asked, do people “want more of the same from the two main parties, or do they want change?” “We are the only party with a clear bold plan … whether you vote Tory or vote Labour, you’ll get the same form of socialism”.
“My name is Steve Chilcott. I’ve lived in London for 24 years and in Southall for the last 13 years. Previously I lived on the South coast, in Portsmouth and grew up near Southampton. I studied biology at the University of Bath and then a post graduate diploma in human resources at the University of Portsmouth. HR has been my career for the last 30 years and I’ve worked in HR across multiple sectors, starting in the NHS, in social housing, engineering, retail, and the charity sector.
“I’m separated, and have one teenage son who goes to school in Ealing and is currently taking his GCSEs.
“I’ve never been directly involved in politics prior to 2024. I’ve always had a keen interest in both local and national politics. And the reason I have now got involved in politics is that as many people do, I feel all three of the main parties have let us down. Our current first past the post system of democracy has resulted in the Labour and Conservative parties gaining a combined 80% plus of all votes in our elections for many years. The two are now indistinguishable, neither now represent their historic voter base but represent a narrow middle class political elite. As George Galloway has correctly stated, they are now two cheeks of the same backside. Trust and confidence is at a low and the levels of faith in our politicians is at risk of causing more harm.
“The Labour Party no longer represents the working people who they once stood for and have become an ideologically driven party from Islington who have lost their way, flip flop from issue to issue and mean nothing to most people. The Conservatives have similarly lost their conservatism. We currently have the highest levels of national debt, the highest levels of taxation since the Second World War, untold bureaucracy and red tape, and crime levels are spiralling. And on the Lib Dems, following their position on things like Brexit, they are neither liberal nor democratic.
“I class myself as a classical liberal and believe the old lens of Right versus Left is often now irrelevant. I was a strong supporter of Brexit, supporting UKIP, then the Brexit Party and now, am a proud member of Reform UK. I am also a very strong advocate for free speech and have occasionally appeared on GB News discussing the matter. It pains me that both Brexit and free speech can be maligned as Right-wing issues, when I firmly believe neither are.
“I’ve got involved with Reform because I am completely fed up with our current politicians and the current state of both London and the country as a whole. Whether it’s levels of tax, crime levels or the complete lack of any control over immigration. Immigration has previously helped Britain be the strong and successful country that we were. However, we now seem to have absolutely lost any control over it.
“Reform UK are the only party with sensible, pragmatic and common sense policies. I want to be part of the way forward, and Reform provide me with a sense of optimism for the future in a World that is in many ways so bleak at the moment.
“Having lived in Southall for over 13 years, I see how the area has changed for the worse. It has become run down, dirty, with increasing levels of crime. Our current Labour MP is unfortunately both invisible and silent. His friends in the Labour Party who run Ealing Council do little to help stagnation in the area. The area is crying out for someone who speaks for and represents everyone across the constituency, and is proactively working hard for the benefit of everyone. We need to put Southall back on the map, a place all its residents are proud of and which attracts people to visit as a go to place.
“I will hold the Labour run Ealing Council to account, work proactively with the police to address the increasing levels of crime, campaign to ensure the council keeps its promises to keep Warren Farm as a beautiful nature reserve, seek to resolve the ongoing problem of pollution in certain areas of the constituency, ensure levels of residential development are matched with infrastructure development and work hard for the huge range of small and large businesses across the constituency.
“I and Reform UK will make all of the UK a better, safer and fairer place for us all. A vote for any of the current established parties – Conservative, Labour, Lib Dems and Greens – is a vote for the old politics and more of the same failures. A vote for Reform UK is a vote for change, for a new sensible future.
“I am pleased to currently be in second place behind the Labour candidate in a recent polling report. I hope to build on this over the next six weeks.”
