With under three weeks until Polling Day, we have been asking Parliamentary candidates in Didcot & Wantage why they deserve your vote.

There are six candidates vying to become the MP for the constituency including Conservative politician David Johnston who previously held the seat.

The seat was previously just for Wantage but has now been extended to cover Didcot and Wantage after a campaign dating back to at least 2016 to change the constituency name.

READ MORE: Crips, Karate and Kylie Minogue- Didcot & Wantage election candidates Q&A

We asked each candidate to tell us why they should be your next MP:

 

David Johnston, Conservative Party

David Johnston.David Johnston. (Image: David Johnston)

It is the honour of my life to have been your MP these past four and a half years. In that time I have helped local people with more than 47,000 cases, visited more than 600 local organisations, held events across the constituency for everyone from young people to businesses to pensioners, and have campaigned every day on the issues that matter to you. 

As your MP I will keep fighting to get us the infrastructure and new GP surgeries we deserve, to re-open Grove Station and to hold our Liberal Democrat Councils to account for the state of our roads and their failures to support families of children with special education.

I am not a career politician. Before being elected as your MP in 2019, I had never been in politics – I ran organisations for disadvantaged young people. I was born on a council estate, went to a school with a 20% GCSE pass rate and was the first person in my family to go to university. 

I have a track record of fighting and delivering for everyone in our community. If you want an MP who is focused on your priorities, vote for me on 4 July. 

 

Mocky Khan, Labour Party

Mocky Khan.Mocky Khan. (Image: Mocky Khan)

Our country and new Didcot & Wantage constituency need change from the chaos of the last fourteen years. The Tories have left the country worse off than when they started. Living standards are down. Crime goes unpunished. Ambulances never come. Schools crumble over our children’s heads. Sewage floods our waters. Mortgages and food prices are through the roof.

You can help bring change by voting for me on July 4. As a long-term Didcot resident, leader of the Labour group on Didcot Town Council, past Mayor of Didcot, South Oxford District Councillor and active locally for over ten years, I have the experience and commitment needed to serve you in the way you deserve.

My priorities for our mixed rural and urban constituency in the new government will be to:

• grow and stabilise the national and local economies

• revive the NHS, social care, NHS dentists, and pharmacy provision

• reform planning laws and build sustainable local homes and transport networks

• commit to far greener values and policies for our families and local environment.

Labour has a mission-driven manifesto to change Britain. Stop the chaos. Turn the page. Start to rebuild our country.

Vote Labour, vote Mocky Khan on July 4.

 

Olly Glover, Liberal Democrats

Olly Glover.Olly Glover. (Image: Olly Glover)

In my view, every person standing to become a Member of Parliament at the election on 4th July should have the same mission – to restore honesty, integrity and, most of all, trust to politics. 

It is said that trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.  Our current leaders have not just spent seconds breaking that trust – but years.  Years of self-serving, years of making promises with no intention of delivering them, and years of acting as if the rules don’t apply to them.

It’s little wonder that the public have become cynical, disillusioned and despairing of all politicians.

My commitments to the people of the Didcot & Wantage constituency are simple.

I will not say one thing to them and do something different at Westminster.

I will always try to bring people together, not find ways to highlight the differences.

Where we disagree, I will tell you so.  I will listen to your point of view and hope that we can have a friendly and useful discussion.

It will take a long time to undo the harm that has been done, but my mission, for however long I am an MP, will be to try.

 

Sam Casey-Rerhaye, Green Party

Sam Casey-Rerhaye.Sam Casey-Rerhaye. (Image: Sam Casey-Rerhaye)

People can be sure that if they vote for me they will get someone who will work hard for them and listen to their concerns. Through my work in public health, I have seen the effect of austerity and cost of living crisis on local people and this has made me want to work to bring positive change for local people. 

I love this area and have brought up my family here for the last 18 years. The poor access to housing, the impact of climate change, high cost of living and the pollution of raw sewage in our rivers are all indications of the failings of the Conservative governments we have had in the last 14 years. It is devastating to see the huge inequalities in our country, with so many people struggling to have a decent standard of living.   

I have the experience of making positive improvements to the local area as a District and parish councillor and I have strategic and leadership experience in the commercial world as a board director. I have campaigned hard on issues such as poor transport planning, better local schools, speeding and tackling the nature crisis. These are my priorities to improve both social and climate justice for future generations. 

 

Steve Beatty, Reform UK

Steve Beatty.Steve Beatty. (Image: Steve Beatty)

I believe Reform UK represents change and boy do we need it! I feel strongly, as sadly an ever-increasing number of our citizens do, that we are a divided and a once great nation in decline. I feel optimistic that with a new approach, we can change and get our ship back on course.

I became involved in Reform as frankly I am tired of listening to an ever disconnected political class talk down to the nation whilst nothing seems to work and the only solution to the decline of services is tax more and spend more. Surely there is a better way?

I am not interested in left or right. I am interested in common sense policies that provide for our people and bring our nation together again. A nation where EVERYONE is equal under the law and there is opportunity for all.

 

Kyn Pomlett, SDP

Kyn Pomlett.Kyn Pomlett. (Image: Kyn Pomlett)

You should vote for me on the 4 July for several reasons.

The SDP’s primary focus is on the family, community and nation; it has policies that support the family, the bedrock of our society.

The SDP will reverse decades of economic neglect to reinvigorate rural communities through investment in infrastructure, mobile and broadband connectivity, public transport and policing.

I am shocked at the cost and lack of accountability of our key utilities. I strongly support the SDP policies to nationalise water, energy and the railways. We have to make our public utilities accountable.

Our NHS is failing; NHS management and overhead functions will be reduced in cost by 15 per cent with the savings returned to frontline care. Social care and health services impact each other; I welcome the SDP policies to establish a National Care Service which will organise, implement and fund social care throughout the country to provide good quality, comprehensive provision.

The SDP unequivocally support women’s sex-based rights.

We need to challenge the current political parties and the system they defend; I believe that SDP is well placed to do that. I would be honoured to be your MP.