Six candidates are standing for election to parliament to represent the Hove and Portslade constituency on Thursday 4 July 2024.
The six candidates are Sophie Broadbent (Green), Carline Deal (Conservative), Martin Hess (Reform UK), Peter Kyle (Labour), Tanushka Marah (Independent) and Michael Wang (Liberal Democrat).
Each candidate answered questions submitted by voters. Here are the answers from Reform UK candidate Martin Hess, 64, an adviser and investor in small and start-up businesses and former IT executive.
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Why do you want to be an MP and how are you qualified for the role?
I believe that this wonderful country of ours is going in the wrong direction.
It is broken in so many areas from the economy, to our health service, our obsession in the public sector and big business with race and gender.
The obsessive focus on net zero which will be a massive costly failure.
I am a businessman who has run multi-billion pound businesses as well as helping medium and small-sized businesses to grow.
I also love Brighton and Hove, where I have spent most of my life. I love where I live!
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If elected, how would you deal with performance and pricing problems in privatised utilities such as the water companies, railways, energy companies and the Royal Mail?
The water companies have failed the consumer. I swim in the Channel off Hove beach and constantly have to check whether sewage has been released into the sea. Outrageous in this day and age. Reform policy is to take 50 per cent of water companies back into public ownership to make them more accountable to the consumer.
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What would you do to help people who are struggling to rent or buy a home? Should second homes or Airbnb-style holiday lets be banned?
This is a big issue. We are living the consequence of free money creating a housing bubble in the last 15 years that has made housing and rents unaffordable for young people in Hove.
I would not ban Air BnB or second homes. As real incomes rise and house prices stagnate this problem will ease.
In the meantime, I support a move to 30 to 35-year mortgages; a greater emphasis on social housing; looser planning regulation on brownfield site building for residential homes.
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What steps would you take to improve hospital performance, community care and access to GPs for patients in Brighton and Hove?
The NHS is broken. It won’t be mended with more money. That isn’t the answer. It needs radical restructuring from end to end.
We need to give pharmacies a bigger role; strengthen what can be done at GP level and relieve pressure on A and E.
We need to look at best practice in other countries such as France and Australia and introduce an insurance-based system.
We must stop playing politics with the NHS and look at root and branch reform.
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Events in Israel and Gaza have affected many members of the community here. What can people in your constituency expect you to say and do as an MP?
While the events in Israel and Gaza are a tragedy given the human suffering, the recent war was clearly started by the barbaric attacks on innocent civilians on 7 October by Hamas.
What reaction did Hamas expect from such an attack? There will be no lasting peace in the Middle East whilst Hamas is in power in Gaza and has an explicit aim of destroying Israel.
The answer in Gaza is the removal of Hamas and it is placed under some form of international body which will guarantee the protection of Israel.
The West Bank is a different and in many ways harder problem to fix because of the extent of Israeli settlements.
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Do you support building new homes and a replacement for King Alfred swimming pool in the Benfield Valley?
No, I don’t support that move. I want to see the King Alfred site developed as a modern leisure centre for Hove.
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Polling stations are due to be open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 4 July. Photo ID is required for those voting in person.
Bringing water into public ownership would actually cost the taxpayer loads to bring them up to scratch though, because suddenly, you’re saddled with a massive bill. I’m sure any leaseholder would be able to attest to that even on a small scale.
It’s a shame he is not going to get elected as he could actually be really good for the City. He is the only one that has achieved much in his own life and we need someone with drive, insight and experience to take on the challenges the City is saying. Peter Kyle comes over as being a decent chap but how have Labour made the City a better place than 10 years ago? It is feeling more like Skegness whereas other comparative Cities look and feel so much better and safer. Being nice sometimes isn’t enough. We need someone bright and driven who has a real vision for the city and country. Someone that can attract inward investment that will generate economic growth and wealth for the city and country. We need change before the city continues on Labours ambition to turn it into Blackpool full of junkies and weed filled parks whilst we lose assets we have like Madeira Terrace due to neglect.
Is Martin a relative of Rudolph?!?
Reform are Nigel’s anti-immigration party. Like Ukip and Brexit before them . Yes they have loads of other policies which they make up as they go along but they win votes by blaming immigrants .
Nigel’s supporters have voted for him for 30 years because he’s going to stop immigration and they still believe he will
Reform is a private company with a handful of shareholders who decide what they want to do in their own interests, such as privatise the health service (our quote from BUPA was £26000 for an annual premium. Let that sink in!). Their shareholders would benefit greatly from more privatisation. They actually want to remove our human rights by leaving the ECHR! As a regeneration of UKIP, this party is self interested – instead of working with the EU to create reform, they develop a web of unsubstantiated fear to create divide. Yesterday it was the EU (Brexit has been a disaster for the economy and individual freedom), today they blame immigrants, tomorrow the signs are their that they will go for LBGTQ+ and women’s rights. What’s really at fault is years of austerity and a tax system that enriches an elite few (including this party’s chairman). Just look closely at Nigel’s history – what an unsavoury character. Be careful what you vote for, without proportional representation you could be letting fascism back in.
To say that the war in Gaza started on 7th October is to completely ignore Israel’s ethnic cleansing and war crimes committed over the past 70 years.
Good luck to Martin. He is a decent and intelligent man and a genuine Hove resident.
It is the real fascists who are afraid of Reform UK, as they are a threat to their human trafficking activities importing cheap labour, extra votes, and worse. All while virtue signalling what nice people they are. Most countries run strict immigration policies and for good reason. It is not racist to have these and we are subjected to them if we try to emigrate to most other countries. It also stamps out most human slavery and exploitation.
I think this candidate would benefit from a heavy dose of pragmatism. I appreciate his comments and spirit regarding maintaining the KA building, but one has to concede to the reality of how this would be done. As a businessman by profession, I suspect he knows this very well.
The King Alfred is 100% fully refurbishable. Go and visit Saltdean Lido restoration. It will easily last another 87 years, everyone in Saltdean and beyond loves it and it is on track to win an award! https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2024/06/04/saltdean-lido-restoration-shortlisted-for-award/
Abolish the NHS = Reform policy & change to private insurance system. One look at USA tells us why that means massive bills for the people & massive profits for the health companies.