What are the Peterborough General Election candidates’ priorities for the city?

Mike Greene (Brexit Party)

Don’t vote for a party, vote for Peterborough…

Successive Labour and Conservative MPs have driven Peterborough to an education crisis, a health, drug and homelessness crisis, a housing crisis and a deepening financial crisis (£33m deficit). Peterborough is in crisis because elected MPs haven’t put Peterborough first. Mike Greene, a multi-generational local and successful social entrepreneur, will.

Peterborough has become a staging-post for trainee party MPs. We’ve been let down by career back-benchers who can’t command our fair share. Mike has built business around the world and will NOT be whipped to vote against your interests. Our current Labour MP always votes against Brexit as she fails to represent our 61% Leave constituency. Brexit is safe with Mike. He is a local and completely committed to deliver for Peterborough:

Better education – Peterborough sits at the bottom of league tables. With an Hon Dr Education, Mike is known for his commitment to furthering education and student motivation demand, logistics and issues needed

Jobs – Having built a global business and advised Global fortune 500 businesses, Mike is uniquely qualified to connect with and attract businesses and jobs to Peterborough

Drug abuse, mental health and homelessness – Mike has worked with numerous charities and social enterprises. He will create a clear strategy to address this growing problem

Police and crime – Boris says he’ll add 20,000 police officers but in reality he’s just replacing jobs cut whilst the Conservatives have been in power. Mike wants to look at alternative ways of addressing the problem and has experience of success that he can apply.

Joseph Wells (Green Party)

As a Green MP for Peterborough, I would prioritise doing politics differently, for the good of our futures and for the generations to come.

I am in politics to end the systems that keep hurting the environment and to build a better alternative, whilst giving a strong voice to the people of Peterborough.

I will focus my efforts on improving our schools, campaigning for legislation to move us away from our culture of testing, Ofsted and league tables and towards a new way of teaching and learning that has practical skills and creativity at its heart.

Peterborough must provide our children with practical life skills, from early learning through to higher education, and build a university so our young people can study here.

Peterborough has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the region.

I am committed to building more affordable housing and infrastructure in a way that does not have a negative impact on our local environment.

I would support the introduction of a new duty to constrain house price growth, which has been a key contributor to homelessness.

We must tackle these issues if Peterborough is to become both the UK’s environmental capital and the thriving city we all want it to be.

Beki Sellick (Liberal Democrats - To Stop Brexit)

My priorities for Peterborough are better jobs, a cleaner environment and fairer services to benefit us all.

Only the Lib Dems will #StopBrexit and invest the £50 billion Remain bonus in the following:

Better jobs. As an engineer and local business owner, I know new employers are coming to Peterborough, but we need higher skilled jobs to boost our local economy. Lib Dems will start by investing in free childcare from nine months and an extra £10 billion a year in schools. As MP, I will prioritise recruiting more teachers because they make the biggest difference for our children.

We will give every adult £10,000 to spend on retraining and new skills, making the most of innovations and Peterborough’s new independent university.

Cleaner environment. As a sustainable transport professional, I have called for Peterborough’s Conservative-run council and mayor to bring in electric buses. As MP, I will keep demanding they swap investment into public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure to create cleaner, safer streets with less congestion. I will drive actions to tackle our climate emergency, improve air quality and protect biodiverse green spaces.

Fairer services. As a community campaigner, I lead my local residents’ association to build connections with the police, support services and between neighbours. I volunteer with the homeless. I win grants. But charities and volunteering are not enough. As MP, I will keep working to #StopBrexit which has cost £76 billion so far.

Paul Bristow (Conservative)

Peterborough needs change. We need change in our city and a new MP to break the deadlock at Westminster. By getting Brexit done, the country can finally move on. Then we can start making Peterborough an even better place to live and work.

My priorities for Peterborough aren’t complicated. We need our fair share of Cambridgeshire’s new police officers. We need to raise standards in our city’s schools. We need to stop our communities being used as dumping grounds by fly-tippers. We need the ambition to dual the A47 and regenerate the city centre, including the Station Quarter and North Westgate.

Together, we can do all these things. It just takes a Conservative MP and a majority for the Conservatives in Parliament.

I am proud to be from Peterborough. I grew up in Whittlesey. My parents came here to work as nurses in our local NHS and I live in the city centre. I believe Peterborough can be the best place anywhere to call home and raise a family.

But for that to happen, we must get Brexit through. We are so close and a vote for me really will make the difference. Even Nigel Farage now accepts that it will take a Conservative government, passing the new deal negotiated by the Prime Minister, to deliver it. The Brexit Party are over.

We can’t risk protest votes again in Peterborough. We know that means a Labour MP who would put Jeremy Corbyn into power, destroying everyone’s priorities.

Lisa Forbes (Labour)

Families in Peterborough have been let down by years of Conservative cuts to our schools. Children are being held back from unlocking their full potential with some cuts of nearly £500 per pupil in funding.

If re-elected, I will continue fighting for a properly-funded education system so that every child gets the first- class education they deserve.

More Conservative cuts to fly-tipping response mean that expected clean-ups will be a week instead of two days. As your MP, I will continue to call for the reintroduction of the free bulky waste collection service and the enforcement of fines for fly-tippers. 

Demand for social and affordable housing in Peterborough is astronomical. If elected, I will campaign for a house building programme that will tackle the city’s housing crisis and the huge waiting lists once and for all.

Our NHS is on its knees under the Conservatives. I will listen to our doctors and nurses when they say that it needs proper funding. Labour created the NHS and will invest the funding it desperately needs while protecting it from US corporations. The current government has been trying to keep our communities safe on the cheap for nine years. They’ve cut police numbers by 21,000. More police are needed on our streets to keep our city safe.

I’ve wasted no time in standing up for our city since you elected me in June and would like the opportunity to continue being a strong voice for Peterborough in Parliament as your MP.