2017 General Election candidate profiles: Bristol South

A Labour stronghold that has dutifully voted red for the last eight decades, Bristol South was completely split down the middle in the EU referendum.

Incumbent Karin Smyth was elected MP in 2015 and remains firm favourite in a constituency that stretches from Bedminster at its northern-most tip, taking in Knowle, Bishopsworth and Hengrove, with Withywood, Hartcliffe and Whitchurch in the south.

But in a constituency with some of the most deprived neighbourhoods not just in Bristol but in the UK, as well as areas of soaring house prices and affluent residents, the political landscape is less certain than it once was.

In alphabetical order, here are the 2017 General Election candidates and what they have to say:

Tony Dyer
Greens

Tony Dyer was born and bred in Hartcliffe. After leaving school to work in the construction, he later retrained in IT. He was the Green Party’s mayoral candidate in 2016, where he finished fourth.

“I grew up in one of the most deprived areas of Bristol,” Dyer said. “The real problem we have in south Bristol is there is a real feeling among people that they are being overlooked and left behind. There are areas of deprivation and inequality and around 30 per cent of children are living in poverty.

“We need to invest in education and skills so people can get the good jobs. South Bristol has a high employment rate, but a lot of people have to travel to do their jobs so they have the added cost of transport. We need to invest in companies here.

“The other thing is the cost of housing. One third of children live in poverty because of the cost of housing. We could take these children out of poverty just by building genuinely affordable homes and making them fully insulated.”

Ian Kealey
UKIP

Ian Kealey (right) with Ukip leader Paul Nuttall

Ian Kealey has lived in and around Bristol for 30 years where he has worked as a teacher. He says that he is determined that Bristol South children should have the same leg-up that he had.

“Only UKIP cares about the tragedy of deprivation in Bristol South,” Kealey says. “Under Labour and the Tories, social mobility in the UK is at a 50-year low. For generations, too many Bristol families have failed to break through the ‘glass ceiling’ and access ‘middle class’ jobs, higher education, and healthy rewarding lifestyles. We will assist these families, not just pay lip-service like other parties.

“Comprehensive education has been a disaster, and has failed three generations. We will ensure that all children have access to free, appropriately streamed relevant education.

“We will relieve the poverty of local families that comes from wage compression; we are the only party that accepts local families lose out when we have mass unskilled immigration. We are the only party to have a measured, controlled, colour-blind sensible policy on immigration.”

John Langley
Independent

John Langley is the former Ukip vice chairman of Bristol who unceremoniously parted from his post after his double life as porn star Johnny Rockard came to light.

“Bristol South is divided by wealth and extreme poverty, with this constituency having some of the most socially deprived areas of the country in it,” Langley explains.

“Deprived financially, deprived in terms of services, deprived in having the lowest take up of internet in the country, and more. In this, like previous elections, the other candidates don’t reach out to what should for all candidates be the ‘forgotten’ people.

“The ones who don’t believe the system works for them, who don’t show up at hustings, and won’t vote on election day, because their attitude is ‘why should I bother as nothing will change for me’. In March this year, there were over 700 reported crimes in an area suffering social and financial deprivation. My focus, my passion and my sole objective in standing for election is to address this.

Benjamin Nutland
Liberal Democrats

Did not respond.

Karin Smyth
Labour

Before being elected as MP for Bristol South in 2015, Karin Smyth worked as an NHS manager, most recently with the NHS Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group.

“Skills, apprenticeships and post-16 opportunities are major issues for people in Bristol South,” she told Bristol24/7.

“This constituency sends the least number of students to university in the country. I want to continue to change that status which is a colossal fail for Bristol which has two universities.

“We want to make sure that those youngsters get on to the well paid and rewarding apprenticeships as well as other opportunities and that is really what I have focused on in parliament and locally for the last two years.

“I will also work on bringing more services to South Bristol Hospital, supporting primary care and GP services, as well as provide more affordable homes – particularly for younger and older generations.”

Mark Weston
Conservative

Mark Weston has been a city councillor for 11 years and is currently leader of the Conservative group on the council.

“We need joined-up thinking to combat congestion in south Bristol,” he says. “Our road network is already creaking and the congestion will only get worse if the thousands of planned houses are built to the south of the city.

“The South Bristol Link Road, part-funded by the Government, will help, but in order to prevent gridlock we need a comprehensive approach to transport across our communities.

“My priorities include campaigning for new rail investment to modernise the Parson Street and Bedminster Stations, opening a new station at Ashton Gate and pushing for new rail facilities to the south of Bristol to encourage commuters to catch the train.

“Fighting to ease congestion and allow traffic to move more freely by ensuring that all major roads are converted back to 30mph and reversing the trend of ‘sticky-out’ bus stops that slow everything down, pushing for money to be spent on road safety improvements around vulnerable areas like schools.

“I will champion the roll-out of an ‘oyster card’ system that can be used on both the buses and trains.

“Nationally, I want to continue the Government’s drive to provide affordable childcare, secure additional support for adult social care and ensure more investment in our transport infrastructure. Above all, I want to secure the best possible deal as we leave the European Union.”

2017 prediction:
A Labour win.

2015 result:
Karin Smyth, Labour: 19,505
Isobel Grant, Conservative: 12,377
Steve Wood, UKIP: 8,381
Tony Dyer, Green: 5,861
Mark Wright, Lib Dems: 4416
Tom Baldwin, Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition: 302

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