We put five questions to our MP candidates to get more insight into their plans. 

Dr Antonio Weiss, a senior adviser to the Labour Party, has been selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the Witney constituency.

Q: Why did you decide to stand?

I look back on the last 14 years and it’s hard to think of anything that has improved. Indeed, most things are going backwards. Our standing in the world has diminished and our security is increasingly at risk on all dimensions; food, the environment and our national security.

I believe passionately that, for all its flaws, politics is the best way of addressing these issues. That’s why I’ve spent the last ten years as a councillor and been a cabinet member in a major borough council.

Q: What is your main topic of interest in Witney?

The cost of living crisis after the Conservatives nearly blew up our economy has hit families hard here. Rural inequality is rife, and transport links need improving.

We have an amazing farming community in the constituency. Labour will by setting a target that half of all food purchased by the public sector is locally produced.

We also proudly host RAF Brize Norton and Shrivenham in the constituency. Championing our world-class armed forces is a key Labour pledge.

Our towns and villages are the heartbeat of the constituency and they have been let down. We’ll back our communities to take over pubs which are closing down. We’ll revive our high streets, which have suffered due to the dithering by the Lib Dem minority county administration. We’ll open 350 banking hubs across the country, breathing new life into high streets and reform business rates. And I will fight to reopen the local police station in Witney.

Q: The biggest issue facing the nation right now.

Public services. The horrendous waiting lists are symptomatic of so much that’s wrong with the way the Conservatives have governed. If we take just health, it is shameful the residents in Faringdon have to wait weeks for a GP appointment and shocking that many Witney constituents have had to travel abroad for dentistry.

Tell us two interesting facts about yourself

I own a men’s fragrance company called Thomas Clipper. Our signature scent “Country” was inspired by the Cotswolds and was voted one of GQ’s men’s fragrances of the year.  I’m a partner at a public services consultancy with a focus on technology and have written four bestselling books on business and management. 

My mum is Mexican-Guatemalan and my dad is of Irish-American (with a bit of Austro-Hungarian added in) descent. Though, naturally, I was born and grew up in Bradford, Yorkshire. On the Mexican side, I visit every year to connect with my roots and am trying - with a modicum of success - to teach my young kids Spanish.