Meet your candidates for Central Devon

The Moorlander offers insightful profile pieces on the Central Devon candidates ahead of the July 4 general election.

Mel Stride - Conservative 

I am no longer your MP as Parliament has dissolved but I was elected as the first MP for Central Devon in 2010 and served for the last 14 years. 

I have worked tirelessly to support constituents, whether through casework, raising issues in parliament or serving as a government minister, including in the Cabinet.

I have been a strong advocate for improved frontline services in rural communities. 

Recently, I worked to help establish the new police desk in Okehampton. 

I have worked with our Integrated Care Board towards the improved provision of local healthcare including for our local hospital in Okey and for the more widespread local commissioning of Minor Eye Care Services

Another of my missions has been to improve local transport services.

I worked with stakeholders to secure the funding for the Okehampton to Crediton to Exeter line which now runs a full service for the first time since the Beeching cuts.

I also played a key role in securing £13.4 million of government funding for a brand-new station in Okehampton which will also operate as a wider transport hub including buses and EV charging points.

I have a strong track record of delivering for local organisations, having supported and helped raise funds for numerous community enterprises. 

Central Devon has benefited greatly from the government’s Community Ownership Fund, with a recent success being the Kennerleigh Community Shop’s award of £147,781. 

Our constituency is one of the most rural in England and post offices are a vital asset to our communities. We rely heavily on them in Central Devon, which has the fourth highest number of any constituency in England.

This is why supporting post offices has been at the top of my priorities from day one. 

Even prior to first becoming an MP, I ran a huge ‘save our post offices’ campaign collecting 14,000 signatures door to door for a petition that was presented to Parliament.

I am a passionate believer in the power of education. 

I successfully campaigned for additional funding for Devon schools and I continue to work with stakeholders to ensure that the case for fair funding is heard in Westminster.

Agriculture sits at the heart of our constituency.

I meet regularly with local farmers and have represented their views in Parliament. I did this most recently at the Farm to Fork Summit in Downing Street. 

As a Minister, I introduced legislation to fine supermarkets found to have dealt unfairly with farmers.

When I was Chair of the Treasury Select Committee I produced a major report on tackling climate change, an issue with which I have been heavily engaged for almost 20 years.

In Government I served as Paymaster General, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons. 

I continue to serve in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, leading major reforms to our welfare system, including making sure that the overall cost of welfare is sustainable and fair to the taxpayer.

If re-elected, I will continue to deliver for us.

Ollie Pearson - Labour

I’m Ollie Pearson. I’ve lived and worked in Devon for over 20 years.

If you elect me as your MP I promise to always stand up for you.

I love Devon, it’s where I belong, so I’ll be an MP focused on Devon, not Westminster. 

You’ll see me around, meet me at local events and at regular surgeries. 

I promise to listen and act on what you tell me. 

As your MP I will be a champion for our Devon towns and villages, our local businesses, our farms and our community organisations.

As someone who both runs a successful small business and has represented my community as a local councillor, I understand how to get things done and I also understand how hard things have been over the last decade. 

We need change.

As part of a Labour Government I will ensure we get back to economic stability, ending the chaos of the Tory government, to bring down mortgages and energy costs. 

I will ensure we have NHS dentist and GP appointments in good time and when you need them.

In our schools, I’ll make sure we have more teachers in key subjects and free breakfast clubs. 

And I’ll make sure hard working parents have the support they need, with free nursery places for children from nine months old.

I’ll support our communities to take back control of local bus services.

I will back our farmers and support high quality local produce. And I will make sure that Environmental Land Management schemes work for our upland farming communities and small holders. 

I’ll take rural crime seriously and make sure Devon gets its share of 13,000 more neighbourhood police under a Labour Government.

Together we’ll address the social care crisis and the housing crisis that Devon faces, with integrated local health services, and the new homes people need.

I’ll make sure that reforms to the planning system work for our rural communities and towns, allowing us to build new homes and buildings in a way that reflects and protects our unique Devon places and landscapes. 

Labour will create Great British Energy, a publicly owned, clean power company that will cut bills, boost energy security and help tackle the climate crisis. 

Here in Devon, I’ll make sure we protect and enhance the biodiversity of our moorland and countryside so they remain places that produce great locally sourced food and places we can all enjoy.

Finally, there can be no excuses, no delay. 

We need to put failing water companies under tough special measures now and stop sewage dumping in our rivers and the sea for good.

This election is a once in generation opportunity for change. It's time for a decade of renewal with the countryside at its heart. 

Only I and Labour can be that change here in Central Devon. 

Mark Wooding - Liberal Democrat

I grew up in Plymouth.

At university I studied biochemistry. 

My early career was in marketing.

I founded one of the country’s first internet businesses.

Latterly I have been involved in the entertainment business. 

I returned to Devon in 2001. 

I live in the constituency in a tiny hamlet. I’m married. I enjoy films, quizzes, walking (Dartmoor) and I cook a good curry.

I am calling for a rural revival. For too long our towns, villages and hamlets have been ignored with funding and resources being centralised in cities. 

Key to that rural revival is ensuring the farming community gets the support it needs to survive. I am strongly supportive of the Liberal Democrat call to provide another £1 billion of funding for farmers.

My key priorities if I am chosen to represent my neighbours are:

1 - Giving greater support to our farmers and rural communities.

2 - Ending sewage dumping and getting potholes fixed.

3 - Ensuring hospital waiting lists fall. Better access to dental treatment.

4 - Improving children’s education. Introducing a skills training passport for adults.

5 - Encouraging the creation of high value jobs in emerging green technologies.

My commitment to a rural revival and my involvement in campaigns to revitalise

Okehampton Hospital, get potholes fixed and keep our mobile library service show that I am

the champion that local people in Central Devon need to ensure our communities thrive.

We need to get our economy growing to fund the investment we want in our public services.

The next government needs to invest in new technologies. 

I will focus on the needs of small rural communities in health, transport and education. 

The city driven focus must stop. Liberal Democrats have always put the local community first. I will listen to the people, to focus on local issues and work across the community. 

We have more in common than divides us.

I am helping to galvanise the campaign to revitalise Okehampton Community Hospital. My initiative in calling a well attended community meeting restarted the cross community North Dartmoor Health Initiative.

I was shouting at politicians on the TV and decided, ‘I need to do something about this’. Much of our rural life is tied to the health of our farming community. Many jobs are directly and indirectly dependent on farming. Our farmers are in crisis. They need our support. 

We need a fair deal for countryside products. No longer ignored or worse, taken for granted.

Online media is no substitute for face-to-face communication. 

I propose a regular programme of ‘surgeries’ throughout the constituency. I promise that I will never send ‘cut-and-paste’ replies to letters from constituents.

All MPs should be committed to ensuring proper standards in public office. I would support this legislation. Regular meetings with constituents is important, I have regular social-media posts (@Mark4Devon) where I engage in discussions, and contribute to our local party website (https://www.centraldevon-libdems.org.uk).

My actions are transparent.

Gill Westcott - Green 

Gill Westcott is a Mid Devon district councillor. 

She’s taught in primary and secondary schools, helped grow and sell vegetables and dairy produce from a Devon smallholding and run craft-based camping holidays.

She helped found Cheriton Bishop Community Land Trust to provide social housing in her village and is a director of New Prosperity Devon, which promotes a strong sustainable local economy and Community Wealth Building.

Gill says: “As a former parish councillor I understand some of the challenges of living in a rural area. We urgently need better access to health services, as well as a cut in waiting times across the board. Bus services are scarce and there’s also a desperate need for more genuinely affordable housing.

“Local services have been starved of cash. Councils need the money and powers to maintain essential services and provide what they know their communities need.

“I am running because I believe our democracy needs defending and improving.

Our current government is trashing the hopes and life chances of younger generations by encouraging more investment in dirty fossil fuels and ignoring the climate and nature Emergencies.”

Greens want more investment in cheap renewable energy and a mass home insulation programme, to cut energy bills as well as reduce climate damage and dependence on foreign energy suppliers.

The cost of living crisis and rising use of foodbanks have shown that it’s vital to have a fairer tax and benefit system, with a proper windfall tax on energy companies (not one full of holes) and benefits and pensions which keep pace with inflation.

Many farmers are struggling with erratic weather, rising costs and reduced financial payments. 

Green Party policy is to support farmers better to look after the countryside and nature as well as producing quality food, and avoid undercutting them with trade deals allowing imported produce with lower standards.

Water companies have dumped sewage into our rivers and coastal waters in wet and dry weather, while paying huge dividends to shareholders. 

Greens want water supply in public ownership rather than prioritising private profits.

We want a fairer, proportional voting system so that every vote counts and the number of MPs reflects the number of votes for each party. 

Among European countries only the UK and Belarus still use First Past the Post.

The Electoral Commission needs its independence restored, to ensure fair play – rather than being shackled to the government as it is now. 

Deliberative processes like the Devon Climate Assembly can make sure ordinary people’s voices are heard. 

(The Assembly was chosen randomly, like juries).

Gill says: “If elected, I would hold regular surgeries and seek local opinion on issues and legislation. Whichever party forms the next government, a strong Green vote will boost our policies for fairness and protection for people and nature. Support for

Greens is growing steadily (812 Green councillors since the recent local elections).

We want to maintain this momentum on July 4, to hold other parties accountable for their promises and responsibilities.”

Contact Gill at: central.devon@votegreen.uk

X (twitter): @Gill4Greens

Arthur Price - Independent

I’m standing as an Independent candidate because I feel unrepresented now that the Labour Party has shifted to the right. Keir Starmer has abandoned anything remotely socialist and taken away the last vestiges of hope for anyone struggling to make ends meet in our constituency. 

In 2022/23 almost one in five children in Central Devon were living in poverty (DWP/ONS figures) through no fault of their own. That is a shocking and unacceptable figure in the world’s sixth richest economy.

This situation has been created by design, through years of austerity during which we’ve seen the biggest suppression of wages in history and unparalleled cuts to public services.  

These years of austerity were an ideological choice by a self-serving Conservative government, who care for nobody except themselves and their own class.

I fear that nothing will change under a Labour government as they continue to implement Tory policies and wreak havoc on the lives of the  poor with welfare cuts and continued privatisation of the NHS. 

Tweaking policies here and there is no way to address the monumental gap between rich and poor in this country. As your Independent candidate I’m calling for massive investment in the NHS, education, council housing, public services and renewable energy.

I want to see public transport and domestic utilities brought back into public ownership, and for workers to be paid a living wage, treated with respect, and with stronger rights in the workplace. 

On an international level I’m calling for safe routes for refugees fleeing conflict and persecution. I  stand in solidarity with those who are fighting for survival across the world, particularly at this time in Gaza.

I condemn the genocide of over 15,000 children by the Israeli state, I’m calling for a ceasefire and the recognition of a Palestinian state by the British Government enshrined in law. 

I was born in a council house in Lustleigh and I bought my first house - a small terraced house just 300 yards from where I was born - nine years ago at the age of 51.

My family has lived in  Lustleigh since my great-grandfather settled here 110 years ago after walking from Barnstaple with his belongings carried on a horse and cart. I’m about as Devonian as it gets.

I was brought up listening to my family’s stories of hardship and struggle and I learned from a young age that all the privileges we have in our lives had to be fought for, and I am continuing that fight with my candidacy. 

As an Independent with limited campaign resources, I have no posters or leaflets, no campaign budget, just word of mouth, so I urge you to visit my website and social media pages, watch my videos and share anything that may resonate with you.

I’m not deluded enough to think I can win this seat, but I can walk away with a clear conscience, and I’m giving you the chance to do that too on July 4, Independents’ Day!  

Thank you.

Jeffrey Leeks - Reform UK

I'm pleased to be standing as the prospective parliamentary candidate in Central Devon for Reform UK.

I have spent my career to date in the world of training and consultancy, which due to the nature of the work has provided me with a vast insight to many social issues experienced by parts of our society and equally have been successful in business and so can understand the needs of small companies and their struggles too.

I have lived in Devon for the past nine years and have worked with a vast variety of services, charities and have been part of many fundraising projects and this has gained me much local knowledge that has enriched my awareness of many elements of our communities.

My interests include walking, antiques, gardening, wildlife, cooking, and most things that involve experiencing our beautiful country and food.

Like so many, I previously voted Conservative, but have grown exhausted with lost opportunities and unmet promise after promise that has led to a deterioration of our society and along with complete failure to protect our borders and many
other issues on the list.

The list goes on and is very long.

I equally add there are many people I know that feel the same about the Labour party and they too are moving to Reform.

When I saw what Reform stood for and the changes it proposed, this was a real awakening to what I had been missing and acted as a realisation of what we have lost focus of in our great country.

Like so many of us, I was an armchair politician and would sit and watched the news with total frustration as I saw free speech being lost and as woke ideology was being forced through by a few whilst the many of us sat and watched how it was damaging so many elements of our society.

That was the point I thought it’s time to no longer tell the TV what should change, but join and stand for a party that will actually do something about it and have the strength to action change and not simply submissively keep rolling other, and so
here I stand with all those that agree with Reform.

I had served as a local councillor, and so could see at first hand, that with a little bit of evert, real change could be achieved.

As previously noted, I travel around the constituency a lot and have visited many of our great pubs and other venues and I have heard an increasing move towards Reform with others like me that agree that Britain is broken and needs change,
the polls support this growth and I now feel its time to get together and I hope to be elected by the people of central Devon to implement Reforms policies into practice and serve the constituency.

Taken from - https://www.reformparty.uk/central-devon-constituency