Wyre Forest candidates on why you should vote for them

Residents will take to the polls across the district on Thursday, July 4, to vote for the next MP to represent them. 

Candidates have spoken about their ambitions and goals as they battle to win votes from constituents.

This is what each candidate will prioritise if elected. The list is in alphabetical order. 

John Davis - Green Party

(Image: John Davis)

I am proud to be standing as a Green Party candidate for Wyre Forest where I have lived and worked for nearly 20 years. 

I believe the terrible state of the NHS is of greatest concern to us all. Long waiting times, linked to poor quality of life means that people are having to access private healthcare to be seen more quickly. We shouldn’t have to make this choice. The more the NHS is run down, the closer we come to having a two-tier health system. The Green Party is the only party pushing for the transformative levels of investment needed to make a real difference. 

We need to act on sewage in our waterways. Privately owned companies milking customers for dividends for their shareholders, which is an insult to us all. The Green Party is demanding that public utilities to be returned to public hands, funded by asking the wealthiest to pay a little more tax.

The cost of living and the urgent need for social housing are also of great concern. We want homes built to the latest efficiency standards, reducing heating costs, reducing CO2 emissions AND tackling the climate crisis. Decent, warm homes for those on lower incomes.
On the 4th of July Vote for Real Hope, Real Change, Vote Green Party.

Mark Garnier - Conservatives

(Image: Mark Garnier)

This election is as much about who will be our local MP as it is about who will form our next government. In the 14 years that I have been your local Member of Parliament, I have worked tirelessly to secure opportunities locally.

Wyre Forest has secured funding for a whole host of investment: a new train station, the Hoobrook link road, three new state of the art doctor’s surgeries, flood defences in Bewdley, and new services at Kidderminster Hospital.

Right now, we are seeing regeneration in Kidderminster: the magistrates court transformed as a creative hub, the town hall as a performing arts centre, Worcester Street’s new open park, Crown House demolished, the Piano Building to be a hospitality hub. This transformation has attracted businesses, creating over 2,100 more jobs in the district, and nearly 900 new businesses.

But it’s not just about bringing in investment. Its about championing local issues. Standing up for communities against unwelcome development, such as the proposed quarry to the north of Kidderminster, or the unanimously unpopular developments near Stourport has been a key part of my job. 

With this proven track record of success, I am keen to achieve more over the next 5 years.

Nigel Geary - Independent

(Image: Nigel Geary)

I’m Dr Nigel Geary and I was born in Kidderminster attending both Harry Cheshire Boys, where I won the Top Boy prize, followed by King Charles I School, where I won the prize for physics, before gaining a PhD at Liverpool University.  

I have spent 40 years designing software to run businesses, governments and bodies like the NHS.  I would like your vote to fight for your basic human right to have clean water which starts with taking back water from foreign ownership.

My only aim in running for parliament is to introduce a private member’s bill to renationalise water. Neither major party is committed to taking water back into public ownership so I will fight every day for the next 5 years until Parliament acts.

Labour will be the next government but Keir Starmer has said it is too expensive to renationalise water.  Rubbish.  It would cost the taxpayer nothing.  Thames Water is already worthless because it is bankrupt.  

Fine the other water companies for every historical sewage spillage and they would probably be bankrupted too.  We can then buy the water companies back for peanuts and raise bonds to fund new infrastructure while keeping bills down.

Bill Hopkins - Reform UK

Bill Hopkins (Image: Bill Hopkins)

I am the third generation to have been born and raised in Kidderminster. I was a Kidderminster Town Councillor and a local school Governor and am currently a Worcestershire County Councillor. 

I am proud to be Reform UK's Parliamentary Candidate in the forthcoming General Election.
We are the Common Sense party and have the following policy issues.

1. Increase Personal Allowance from £12500 to £20000 thus taking 7 million lower paid and majority of pensioners out of income tax.

2. Stop the boats and return illegal immigrants back to France.

3. Eliminate patients NHS backlog awaiting operations within 2 years.

4. Energy security. Encourage North Sea production of oil and gas together with shale gas and nuclear.

5. Abandon Net Zero saving £30 billion per annum.

6. Reduce the number of Civil Servants by at least one third as numbers have dramatically increased and productivity has fallen.

Shazu Miah - Liberal Democrats 

(Image: Shazu Miah)

Shazu has lived in Wyre Forest all his life attending the local schools, St Mary’s, Sladen and King Charles. He finished his A levels at Kidderminster College before studying Law at Staffordshire University. One of 7 siblings, his father worked at Georgian Carpets. Shazu is married and has 4 children who attend local schools. Shazu was governor at a local school and serves a trustee at a high school and volunteers for a homeless charity.

In 2016 Shazu was elected as a councillor for Offmore and Comberton and elected to serve as a Chairman of the council in 2019.  As a councillor he campaigned against the Local Plan, against the loss of school lollipop ladies, and successfully campaigned to keep the popular St Georges park paddling pool open in 2016.

In 2019 Shazu as Chairman of the Council, declared a Climate Emergency, to oversee climate efficiency changes in the Wyre forest, including electric charge points, the planting of over 20,000 trees. Shazu successfully put forward a motion at the District Council to support residents through the cost of living crisis.

In this election Shazu’s priorities are to bring care within the NHS so it is funded properly. He is extremely about the constant abuse of our rivers and wants to see water bosses lose their bonuses and fines to clean up our waters. 

Vicki Smith - Labour 

(Image: Vicki Smith)

I’m not a career politician. I’ve worked in the private and public sectors, in insurance, hospitality and heritage, as well as for a domestic violence charity. I set up my own small company, focused on health and wellbeing through the arts. I’ve also always been the primary carer for my daughter Lily, now 22, who was born with multiple disabilities. I know what it means to work hard and I know how it feels to struggle.

These are my priorities if I’m elected:

· I’ll fight to clear up the Severn and the Stour, by scrapping self-monitoring for water companies and issuing bigger fines for illegally discharging sewage

· I’ll fight to put more police on the streets, tackling low-level crime head on

· I’ll fight to protect and expand bus routes, and for a more reliable service across the board

· I’ll fight for more good quality, affordable housing for local people and for an end to Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions

· I’ll fight to for more funding for preventative healthcare and mental health services

If I have the privilege of being your MP, this constituency will always come first. I’ll be Wyre Forest’s voice in Westminster, not Westminster’s voice in Wyre Forest. 

Leigh Whitehouse - Independent

(Image: Leigh Whitehouse)

I was born in Wyre Forest and have lived here all my life, in both Kidderminster and Stourport, unlike our Conservative and Labour candidates - both of which live miles away from the heart of our district and outside the constituency. 

I am delighted Dr Richard Taylor, former Independent Wyre Forest MP, has endorsed my campaign to see an Independent MP elected in Wyre Forest.

I am 37, father of 3 and a senior manager in environmental management with a background in policing as a homicide investigator. I have several years of elected political experience in Wyre Forest and I have a genuine hunger, desire and passion to bring about positive change in Wyre Forest. 

According to the Independent Platform, 57% of voters are willing to vote independent in the general election, and that’s what I’m finding out when knocking people’s doors. 

My focus areas include health, which includes more services at Kidderminster Hospital, mental health, security, the economy, supporting the vulnerable, controlling immigration, cost of living, fair pay, getting fit people back to work and the environment. 

What Wyre Forest needs is another Dr Richard Taylor moment. Vote Leigh Whitehouse on Thursday 4th July, I won’t let you down.