Wyre Forest General Election hopefuls in their own words

Brett Caulfield - Green Party

"I promise you a different kind of politics for you and the people and places that you love.

"I will campaign for your right to vote on the final terms of the Brexit deal, including an option to stay in the EU to safeguard the rights for people and the environment.

"I see urgent need for a major programme to build affordable houses. I also want an NHS Reinstatement Act to roll back privatisation and ensure that health services are publicly provided and funded.

"I will act on climate change and call for an Environmental Protection Act to restore our environment and protect our wildlife. I will support a new Clean Air Act to establish our children’s right to breathe clean air.

"I will campaign for a Basic Universal Income and end exploitative zero hours contracts. I will fight to ensure that everyone pays their fair share of tax and there is a crackdown on tax dodging.

"Our public transport system is shameful. We need buses and trains that are affordable and reliable. We need to return the railways to public ownership and re-regulate buses, investing in increased services especially in rural and other poorly served areas.

"I believe that politics should be done by people, and not done to them, and that’s why I will work to introduce proportional representation, and why, as a youth champion, I want the voting age lowered to 16."

George Connolly - UKIP

"I am a self-employed bricklayer, who works and lives in and around Wyre Forest.

"I’m trying to represent the people in the area that I have grown up with. I love Wyre Forest and I really want to give something back. I know the people here and I truly believe I am the best candidate to represent them and the district in parliament.

"There is a problem of pubs closing in the area. Breweries should be given all the help possible to thrive. Labours ‘plan’ would kill pubs through tax, while thumping a few extra nails in their coffins as pub cos and publicans would be condemned to penury by ever rising beer duty and unable to offload failed assets due to a universal listing of pubs as assets of community value.

"We also have problems with car parking, particularly at Kidderminster Hospital. UKIP have been strong advocates of free Hospital car parking for the last few years. It is a disgusting money making scheme on the sick! We hear a lot about national issues from other parties but not enough about what’s happening right here.

"I am the only candidate in Wyre Forest who on June 23, campaigned for Brexit! 63 per cent of the Wyre Forest constituency voted to leave, as a true 'Brexiteer' I will be their voice in the House of Commons if elected."

Mark Garnier - Conservative

"Few of us in Wyre Forest will ever forget how Labour let us down. Against huge public objection, the last Labour government downscaled our hospital. Less known is how much wider damage they did.

"Analysis of the ONS website reveals just how bad Labour have been for Wyre Forest. In 2007, local workers received just 88p for each £1 their West Midlands colleagues received. By 2010, for £1 paid to west midlands workers, we here in Wyre Forest received just 77p. I’ve worked hard to redress that deficit. Now a local worker is paid 84p per pound in the region – an average income of £26,000 yearly. Despite reducing unemployment from 2,500 in 2010 to around 800 now, we need to do more.

"That is why I am pledging to bring more skills to Wyre Forest so workers can get better paid jobs and our local economy will be more resilient to shocks. At a time when we are entering Brexit negotiations, Labour wants to tax 3,500 businesses in Wyre Forest more, holding up investment and expansion.

"But it is not just about jobs and skills. We have successfully won more money for Worcestershire schools, investment is coming into our hospitals. And we are led by an individual who tackles the issues as they are, without making undeliverable promises."

Matt Lamb - Labour

"My name is Dr Matt Lamb and I am Labour’s Candidate. I want to build a fairer Wyre Forest where prosperity and opportunity belongs to everyone, not just the privileged few.

"I was raised in Kidderminster and educated at Comberton Middle, King Charles and Kidderminster College. Following my Dad, who taught at Bewdley High School, I have worked in education for the last 20 years and I am currently Assistant Principal at Sandwell College. My partner Zoe is from Stourport and I have a 15 year old daughter, Angel.

"Wyre Forest needs a strong, independent voice to stand up for local interests. The Tories have failed Wyre Forest. A crisis in the NHS has impacted on local patients and families have seen a drop in living standards. A quarter of local children live in poverty and there have been cuts to schools.

"Under Labour we can create a fairer society. We can ensure that jobs are secure and well paid. We can ensure that our NHS and our schools get the money they need. We can ensure that our young people can get a good education, a career and a home. We can ensure dignity in old age. Wyre Forest deserves better."

Shazu Miah - Liberal Democrats

"This is the most important election of our lifetime. As a consequence of the spring Budget, Wyre Forest schools will lose £4.2 million, 25,000 Pensioners will lose a guaranteed annual increase of 2.5 per cent and mothers who wish to access funds will have to prove that their child was born as result of rape.

"The Conservative manifesto now pledges to abolish free school meals which will impact on over 25,000 children in Worcestershire, abolish fuel allowance for the elderly and those who unfortunately have to receive care in their old age will have to pay it by selling their house. Despite these cuts, the national debt has risen.

"This week the IFS proclaimed that neither the Conservative party nor the Labour Party “set out an honest set of choices” and that they were misleading the public, whilst they found that my party the Liberal Democrats, were the most transparent.

"Wyre Forest needs a strong opposition to these cuts. I will fight for fairer funding in our schools, by reversing cuts and abolish plans for grammar schools. I will fight to keep the triple lock and my party will save the NHS by asking people to put an extra 1p in the pound to go directly to fund social care and the NHS.

"On Brexit, my position is simple: trust the people and give them a say on the final deal."