Candidates for West Cornwall MP give views at Helston hustings

With roughly 71,000 people eligible to vote in the St Ives and West Cornwall constituency, a ‘hustings’ event was organised in Helston by resident Dave Potter, to give each of the candidates a chance to answer some of the electorates’ most burning questions.

Six out of the nine prospective parliamentary candidates took up the opportunity to take part: most recent MP Derek Thomas for the Conservatives, former MP Andrew George for the Liberal Democrats, Independent Dave Laity, Ian Flindall for the Green Party, John Harris for The Common People and Jason Saunders for the UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Filson Ali for the Labour Party, Paul Nicholson for the Liberal Party, and Giane Mortimer for Reform UK did not take part.

You can read more about each candidate here: Meet the St Ives candidates for General Election 2024 - and what they stand for

The event was chaired by Dr Pat McGovern, former headteacher of Helston Community College, and began with each of the candidates present giving an introduction, in the order drawn at random before starting.

Introductions

Ian Flindall for the Green Party said: “I’m not asking you to vote for me, I’m asking for you to vote for the future. That has to be Green.”

Derek Thomas, Conservative, said he does not take the job of MP, which he has been doing since 2015, for granted, adding: “What I’ve been trying to do is make sure people have the things they need as much as possible, and that we provide or create an environment where people can train and get the jobs they need to go and live here and raise their families here.”

Dave Laity, Independent, said: “I was born and bred in Marazion, and spent most of my working life in the area. I started out as a medical scientist but changed to be a policeman.

“I thought it was about time for a change.”

John Harris, The Common People, said: “I’m hoping there might be questions about minimum voting age. That’s the question that came into my mind when I heard the Labour announcement on it.”

Andrew George, Liberal Democrat, said: “I was MP between 1997 and 2015. I think it’s vitally important we re-establish and restore this country in respect of social justice for example.

“I think it’s wrong that £500 million is spent on subsidising holiday homes when we need first homes in this part of the world. I think it’s wrong that we are closing hospital services when so many people are dying as a result of ambulance queues and I think it’s wrong we are dumping sewage in the sea at a time when top executives are receiving enormous bonuses.

“I think we need to change this word and completely turn it around.”

Jason Saunders, UKIP, said: “I’m hoping for change. That’s what I’m representing.”

A number of topics were then debated at length over the 90-minute event.

Post office services

Richard McKie, from Godolphin Cross, put forward the question: “Mr Thomas told us how he wants to keep services close to people. This morning he told me he basically agrees with the Post Office’s decision to cut in half the three hours a week we get to service 700 people at Godolphin Cross.

“His reason was that he agreed with the Post Office that there were not enough people using the service. To my mind he’s talking about profits. How the hell do you make a profit selling first and second class stamps?

“My question is, having agreed with the Post Office and having seen horrendous cuts to the post offices and banking system, how do we bring back in to this part of Cornwall, for the old and for the infirm, the kind of services they need that are not run on the basis of profits?”

Derek Thomas, Conservative, replied that he was aware that the service at Godolphin had been reduced “without warning”.

“The reason is, and I don’t say I agree, but the reason is there isn’t the footfall to justify these two days.

“I have worked really hard to get mobile services, not just yours but across different parts of the county. The mobile van, for example, was achieved because I stood up and said how scandalous it was that Post Office services and access to cash services were being withdrawn.

“There’s still a lot of work to do. I think the intention is to try to rally the community of Godolphin and around to use the service more.”

Mr McKie shouted back: “That’s completely rubbish. Another one has gone down on your watch!”

To which Mr Thomas replied: “They said it’s because of footfall. We are doing what we can to encourage people to use these services, because we need to keep them available to people who maybe don’t have access to services online.”

Hours being cut at Godolphin Post Office prompted a debate on Post Office services generally (Image: Richard McKie)

Dave Laity, Independent, said: “A post office, it should be in every village. The profits have taken priority and in favour of corporate entity and corporate gain, where we should be providing a service. And that service should be us, the people, not profits or shareholders.”

John Harris, Common People, said: “He’s quite right about the profit part and putting out the money as dividends from these companies. In particular those that were the public sector works.

“If you have companies which are primarily there for putting out dividends in what used to be the public service you will get these problems. You are going to have things are working undercut, things that are working to maximise efficiency are going to shut those bits that are unprofitable, ignoring the fact they are a public service and they should have to remain one.

“The answer is, whether it’s water or the post office or any of those things, to recognise they fall in to that category and stop the ability to hand out dividends at all.

“With that, and contributions from government and possibly the local council, they stand a chance to continue running in small villages.”

Andrew George, Liberal Democrat, said: “The job of a member of parliament is to stand up against corporate interests, including corporations that are owned by government, and not simply echo the words of that corporation.

“When I was MP we fought to retain a wide range of post offices in this constituency.

“I lost the seat in 2015 and we have had 12 post offices close in this constituency, including Newlyn, Porthleven, Marazion, Gulval, Carbis Bay – it’s not just the smaller communities that are suffering as a result.

“The problem is once you withdraw and replace with temporary or mobile services, that can be withdrawn at a moment’s notice without any consultation.

“As an MP one needs to champion these services.”

Ian Flindall, Green Party, said: “The Post Office is wasting huge amounts of money on corporate affairs and bonuses, without so much regard to what’s happening at ground level. There’s a lot of money that could be better spent.”

Mr Thomas then responded to Mr George saying: “Before the Conservatives, which started with the coalition government, 15 post offices were forced to close in this constituency – not while I was MP but while Andrew was MP.

“Twelve have closed since, but they have closed through retirement, a completely different situation. What has changed is new businesses don’t want to take it on, partly through the reputation of the Post Office.

“We have secured mobile services otherwise these communities would have no services at all.”

Jason Saunders, UKIP, did not comment.

Housing

One man asked the question: “In this country we have built 177,000 houses where the target was 300,000. That figure hasn’t been met for the last ten years.

“With the rising population we’ll need a lot more houses, and if they want to live and raise a family it needs schooling, services, so I want to ask what the solutions are to that?”

John Harris, Common People, said it needed a “great deal of government investment into building programmes” in order that once those houses are sold the money “gets recycled, in order to give capacity building housing”, but he added: “Whether you can find a way of locating those housing projects I have no idea at all.”

Andrew George, Lib Dem, said: “I work with housing professionals running a charity building affordable homes [Cornwall Community Land Trust] – a small charity that has built 300 homes on 27 sites.

“It’s like trying to push a very large boulder up a hill to achieve that.”

He said, however, that Cornwall was actually meeting its housing targets, adding: “Since the early 1960s we have been one of the fastest growing places in the UK. Housing has almost trebled in that time, successive governments have told us we must build to meet the demand.

“And yet at the end of that process, trebling the housing stock in Cornwall, the housing problems of locals has got worse. So what we should learn from that is, simply building houses and allowing the development system to be turned into a development charter is not the answer. It is a more sophisticated and complex answer.

“And that’s why the Liberal Democrats have said in terms of targets, at least 150,000 of those [houses] should be in perpetuity for local housing needs.”

Jason Saunders, Andrew George, John Harris and Dr Pat McGovern (Image: Daniel Bone)

Ian Flindall, Green Party, gave two anecdotes – the first that two houses near him were on the market for £1.5 million and had been empty for most of the year.

The other was that he had two friends, a nurse and a tree surgeon, who spent 18 months trying to find somewhere to live but are now living in Yorkshire.

“There is not a housing crisis, there is a housing distribution crisis,” he added.

“It’s not right that people are able to use their London bonuses to invest in housing here, not to use it, then sell it for a huge profit.”

Derek Thomas, Conservative, said: “We do need a comprehensive review of both social landlords – those that deliver social housing – but also those that deliver affordable housing.

“We have got properties being developed, sold as shared equity. Three bedroom properties for £350,000 and that’s what they’re allowed to charge. That is never going to be resolving the problem we have. We need a proper look at why that is allowed.

“There are still far too many empty homes. We also want quality homes. Andrew is quite right, the cost of housing is extraordinary. And we need those skills – we have got to have a real levelling up on getting the skills [to build housing].”

Dave Laity, Independent, said: “The main issue is the word ‘affordable housing’ – what does that mean? It means they should be sold at half to 80 per cent less than market value.

“If you look at the average St Ives constituency house, according to the Office of National Statistics, the price is £495,000. Fifty per cent discount, you still need a deposit of £24,500, £14,500 fees to move in, and an income of £49,500 per annum to sustain that mortgage – even with a 50 per cent discount.

“I think local people should have housing built for them and they should not have to pay more than a fixed amount – let’s for example say £100,000. A mortgage of £100,000 and put taxpayer funding – not ‘government’ funding, it’s your funding, taxpayer funding – and put that in to the system.

“But how do we get it? We cannot stop houses being bought as holiday homes. In fact that’s part of our economy. But we need a balance.

“Ring fence council tax from holiday homes alone, and that is put in to building houses. A ceiling cost for local people and keep the local workforce here.”

Jason Saunders, UKIP, did not comment.

Mental health support and schools

A question was raised about mental health in schools, also making reference to academy trusts and funding, and asking what could be done to support stable mental health for all of society, not just children.

Andrew George, Lib Dem, said: “We need to establish parity between mental and physical health.

“We will be calling for and continue to campaign for that parity between the two, but also look at how we fund it. We would put out an additional tax for digital companies making massive profits at the moment in order to fund particularly mental health support through the school system.

“I am very unimpressed with the way in which the academy trusts operate. Yes the chief executives do go round in swanky cars and have very large pay packets, but those on the front line trying to provide, at the coal face of schools, are struggling and the SEN services don’t have that support.

“We believe that should be properly funded.”

Ian Flindall, Green Party, said: “No doubt the care system needs much more funding; much more preventative care.

“There is also the view – and I would go along with this – that we need to provide much more green space access.

“Overall we need to give people hope and opportunity, occupational training and a real sense of involvement.

“The care system seems to be basically at fault. We also need more tax coming from carbon industries, so we can fund the important aspects.”

Derek Thomas, Conservative, said: “The government launched its ten-year plan and right at the very beginning of it recognised that the most important thing was for children to get the right kind of assessment and the right kind of support.

“There has been extraordinary amounts of money attached to it, but more and more people are recognising that just throwing money at it seems a very easy answer for politicians to have, but it’s actually how we support people’s welfare and sustaining that.

“I think schools are addressing the issue as best they possibly can.”

He went on to say that in situations that had reached the stage where a children needed very specialist education that was costing around £20,000 plus a year per child.

Mr Thomas said that while it was “absolutely right to do so” in those circumstances, he believed there needed to be intervention much earlier.

“We need a person who is a point of reference for that family, we need to support the whole person, we need to scrap meetings and take the pressure off in terms of GCSE results, to look after the whole child; the value added, not the examination at the end.

“We have created a problem for schools where the league tables are how they’re judged. As a result some children don’t fit on that particular conveyor belt.

“I would love to see that change and reassess how Ofsted is going to go forward. We need to deliver peer review rather than Ofsted. I think good headteachers are perfectly capable of helping other schools deliver what is needed.”

Dr Pat McGovern, David Laity, Derek Thomas and Ian Flindall (Image: Daniel Bone)

Dave Laity, Independent, said: “I think the problem in this country now is there are too many people taking too big a slice of the cake. There are agencies and quangos for everything.

“For instance, if a child is taken in to care £193,000 is the annual cost. A very small part of that is caring for the child. It’s agencies who take big cuts.

“There are people who work for nursing agencies. They’re doing the hard work yet twice their hourly pay is taken by an agency sitting there administering it. We have far too much administration.”

He said there was “plenty of money in this country” and there was a growing opinion that “we could reduce taxes on people in this country and it would be run a lot, lot better.”

“There are corrupt elements,” he said, adding that he had carrying out private investigations over the last 15 years and “I have lawsuits and legal papers on ministers failing to do their duty.”

When steered back towards the question by Dr McGovern, Mr Laity went on to say: “The question is your children. It’s not getting the funding because the funding I going in the wrong places and it’s not trickling down to where it should be.

“One has to wonder where it’s all going. Taxes are going up and services are going down.”

John Harris, Common People, said: “I agree entirely with the early intervention bit. If you’re waiting a year before you see somebody that is not an answer.

“There are ways coming along to do with artificial intelligence and generative AI systems. If you can get those in place you can have an early intervention. You can have somebody with a crisis and it can be dealt with the same day.

“But you do need a system that isn’t there for private companies to make profits from gathering information and you don’t know where it’s going to go and what it’s going to be used for. These things need to be trusted, they need to be under supervision.

“That is the way to look, rather than train up masses and masses of people.”

Jason Saunders, UKIP, did not comment.

Other questions related to how to engage young people and more diverse people in politics, the discharge of sewage, and the panel’s opinion on nuclear deterrents.

Each candidate was then asked a final question, to name their number one priority if elected.  

Number one priority

Jason Saunders, UKIP, said: “I am there for everybody, that’s my genuine thing. I look at the way we live, housing, also the way of our taxation and employment.”

When pressed for his number one priority he said: “My top priority is taxation.”

Ian Flindall, Green Party, said: “I have experience in helping people conserve energy. I would like to see every building in west Penwith upgraded and retrofitted so we can reduce those costs, to attack the cost of living.”

Derek Thomas, Conservative, said: “The most exciting bit about the job is how we negotiate that transition to fossil free and a harm free existence. It’s how we giving people that quality of life and how we navigate bringing everyone together to find a way to get to that outcome, that’s my top priority.”

Dave Laity, Independent, said: “My top priority is finding out what’s best for you and delivering it.”

John Harris, Common People, said: “I give you a top priority of universal basic income. That is something people have to approach eventually and the sooner the better.”

Andrew George, Lib Dem, said: “I’m heavily influenced by the fact that a top priority needs to be one that can be delivered relatively quickly. Therefore my top priority would housing justice.

“We need to combat the housing injustice in places like Cornwall and make sure we build and provide safe, secure, affordable accommodation for local families. That is a foundation for life in a place like Cornwall.”

Closing speeches

Each candidate was asked to wrap up by explaining in one minute what they stood for.

Jason Saunders, UKIP, said: “My view of why I should be voted for, for the St Ives constituency, for UKIP, is basically it’s not about politics, it’s about the people.”

Andrew George, Lib Dem, said: “For me this election is about attempting to turn things around from the disaster of the country that we have at the moment, and restore this country somehow, in spite of the chaos existing at present.

“In my view we need to re-establish kindness in this country.

“People say, ‘How can a politician do that and what’s the relevance of kindness?’ I had, I believe, a Conservative supporting person who said ‘Oh no, we don’t want kindness, we want strength’.

“Let me tell you, there’s nothing weak about standing up to bullies and facing them down. There’s nothing weak about confronting bigots. There’s nothing weak about challenging powerful vested interest – and that’s what kindness is about.

“We need to re-establish a sense of kindness in this country, which pervades all aspects of policy making, in order that we can build a strong economy and establish an environment in which is fit for our children.”

John Harris, Common People, said: “I’m not standing for the Common People in order to win this constituency; I’m not going to win it. What I want is sufficient people to back the ideas that you’ll find in the manifesto when I finally get that out; in the leaflets that come through your doors.

“If I get sufficient backing there will be more people standing in more constituencies standing for those opinions and I would like some of those.”

Dave Laity, Independent, said: “Andrew is going on about being dictated to by people with no clue about what’s needed in Cornwall. I think Einstein once said, the definition of madness is voting for the same thing time and time again and expecting a different outcome.

“We have big parties go left, right, left, right; it just seems to be over the years we’ve had the same old, same old, and it’s time for a change.

“It looks like an independent is needed who lives, works and understands what’s down here, and making sure people have a say on what goes on, and not being dictated to from above.”   

Derek Thomas, Conservative, said: “The way I have approached the job is to listen to as many people as possible; 400 drop in surgeries, I have responded to thousands of emails and supported 24,000 families with issues, and I have listened carefully to them and tried to work with whoever wants to work with me.

“If I get the privilege to continue to serve I’ll continue to battle, to try and get a better legislation in Westminster.

“It is an extraordinary privilege to grow up just outside of town, to be someone who would never normally have got into a political party and be appointed an MP, and I don’t take any of that for granted.”

Ian Flindall, Green Party, said: “The job of the Green Party is to try and ward off the worst excesses of economic endeavour and try to develop a human economy that’s in harmony with nature.

“But at the same time, it appears the thing we need to do is how can we help people reduce the cost of living? The cost of living crisis before us now, we can do something about that, as well as develop more harmonious systems within our general environment, and help ward off climate chaos.

“We have the ability to provide ourselves with all the energy from the wind, sun and tide. Only ten per cent of Cornwall’s energy is from renewable sources.

“We need to do something about water companies wasting money and not being up to the job. That should be taken back into public service.

“And of course food. Why do we allow supermarkets to take so much money from us and take it out of the county?”

The General Election takes place on Thursday, July 4.

• With huge thanks to Daniel Bone for supplying a recording of the meeting.