Question Time - Truro & Falmouth Candidate: Harry Blakeley

Over the last few days, Truro and Falmouth candidates have had the chance to answer your questions.  Up next, Harry Blakely for UKIP...

Q – Steve - Can you please tell me a little more about you and your background?  As a Cornish candidate, can you tell me your local credentials?

A – I’ll send you a copy of my flyer (you can throw darts at the photo!!) as it sums up my background and ideals.

We have three natural sons, and have a reputation for fairness, honesty and common sense to such an extent that three (friends of or sons) teenage boys adopted us and lived with us for a while after domestic situations within their family homes.

 

 

Q – Samantha – Issue of parliamentary expenses.  What accountability measures do you support to prevent this from happening again?

A – Any MP living within thirty mile radius of parliament will not need a second home should commute as do thousands of others into  London without claiming expenses after all it is their job.  MPs living outside of this area may be able to have travelling allowances which may be adequately covered by the travel warrant system as used by the military and police services should they wish to upgrade from economy they will bear the additional cost without recompense. For London n accommodation I advocate the use of Military establishments on the premise that if the accommodation is deemed suitable for our armed forces it is more than adequate for the MPs that are pressing them into combat.

 

 

Q –  Rachel – Rightly or wrongly, UKIP is perceived to be a right wing party with quite extreme values -  often mentioned in the same breath as the BNP.  Yet, unlike the BNP, you consistently score highly on the vote for policies website.  If elected to represent this constituency, how would you go about changing people's perceptions of the party?

 

A – I believe our politics are not right wing they are just honest, we tackle difficult situations with a view to the best result for the general public, but others may view this differently, the only common thread between us and the BNP is the problem of uncontrolled immigration and in our case this is not about race, it is about space the UK has more head of population per hectare than almost any other country and probably the reason we are the preferred destination of immigrants is our tolerance, standard of living social service strategies and low criminal activity and are therefore perceived as “a soft touch”.  I am fiercely proud of our heritage and our way of life but I perceive as many do these are being eroded by this constant and uncontrolled influx of non British Nationals, we must be doing something right for so many people are wishing to join us as a nation; whereas the other party appear to prefer strong armed racist tactics and have just attempted to adopt an thin veneer of acceptability by allowing couple of token Muslim members.

We are not advocating banning immigrants just merely reducing and controlling the numbers for a 5 year period to take stock of the situation and having a breathing space thus being able to formulate a sensible, workable policy for the long term future; enabling us to schedule resources and build suitable infrastructure to meet our future needs therefore not always playing ‘catch-up’.

Our policy therefore is to strictly vet all immigrants from any country admitting only those who have a work permit and skills we desperately need, speak acceptable English and would sign a pledge to honour, respect and adhere to the multicultural society we enjoy.

 

 

Q – Georgina - What are the candidates’ views on the proposed plans to transfer cancer surgery out of Cornwall to Plymouth?  Also, what is your view on nurse training at the Knowledge Spar?  There are plans to switch to “exclusively degree” level training programmes, which will mean that hundreds of students will have to start travelling to Plymouth.

A – I regret the proposed transfer of upper G.I. cancer treatment to Plymouth but do understand the rationale behind it, in that it is better to have centres of excellence for this treatment as it is for heart and brain surgery but would advocate and support Trellisk eventually becoming a centre of excellence in itself.  I appreciate it is inconvenient for the patient and family to travel long distances but insist their costs be covered under the NHS and that suitable accommodation be provided for immediate family whilst away and after care be carried out closer to their home.  We must also bear in mind our policy is to withdraw from EU control, stop paying the £45 million per day for our membership which would greatly reduce the current 80ish million pounds per day it costs us to maintain the 120,000 directives we are saddled with releasing much needed capital to build additional medical facilities within the county enabling us to run and maintain our own superb training facilities thus relieving the necessity of our nursing staff to travel to Plymouth for training.

 

 

Q – Chris – Obviously change is a big part of this election.  Can you tell me what kind of things you plan to do differently to Matthew Taylor. 

A – Regrettably, I have never met Mathew Taylor. I understand he was a good conscientious MP . I as an ex LibDem party member and active supporter, am following generally similar principals but differ in my views on Full Membership with the EU which, having extensively researched, firmly believe many of their dictates are not in the best interest of the UK and its residents. (Just check out www.NoRemoteControl.org    and   www.OutofControl.eu.com   to view a few of the policies we are being forced to follow)

I pledge to you as I have to the entire constituency to work to the best of my ability for the benefit of the majority, in the firm belief that you are my employer, there to serve you.

 

 

Q – Nat – How do you plan to juggle countryside preservation with the need for affordable housing.  It just feels like Truro is seen as 'fair game' for developers as it is seen as a city.

 

A – Cornwall council state the current homeless register requires 6 to 8 thousand new homes to satisfy our current needs the regional spatial strategy are determined we build 68 thousand homes a policy I will resist to the nth degree.  However the homes we do need should not be built in large urban sprawls but should gradually and sensitively increase the housing areas we have, (one or two at a time) and after due consultation with the existing residents and consideration of the infrastructure and facilities available in the proposed area of development.

I will try, elected or not , to implement a scheme of refurbishing unused space above businesses into living accommodation and bringing empty houses back into use to relieve some of the immediate need.

Cornwall council are and must continue to build rental housing stock and a portion of the rent should be put aside (invested) for the tenant thus allowing to cover deliberate damage costs where applicable or returned to the tenant for use in a house purchase deposit should they wish to purchase at some future date

 

 

Q – Sue – How do you find the local campaigning process?  How do you tread the line between legitimately going after your opponents and outright negativity?

 

A – As being comparatively new to Politics I am finding the challenge of campaigning rewarding enjoyable and a great experience and wish I had got into politics at an earlier age.  I do not agree with the constant childish sniping and blaming other parties for their policies and mistakes as seems to be the norm and would prefer to see honesty and a mature attitude of admitting errors in policy and looking for positive solutions to situations in the long term and not just trying to score points from each other.

 

Q – Lewis – What is your stance on the DNA database, ID cards in relation to defence vs civil liberties?

A – I object to creating an imposed national DNA database but can see some advantages in an optional database for anyone who chooses, for their own reasons, to take part, in a manner similar to the organ donor scheme. It could be used to allow an individual, if they wish, to be ‘chipped’ (which of course is removable if required) with their code number and all medical details as to blood grouping, drug intolerances and donor wishes, etc easily and quickly available in cases of serious accident, to speed up treatment time, BUT I re iterate, this MUST be totally voluntary.

 

Q – Ian – There is a percentage of empty shop space in Truro and Falmouth.  What is your plan for dealing with this?

A – Empty shops are an eyesore and prone to vandalising but as they are privately owned and a commercial entity it is incredibly difficult for government to control.

However, as a retired business owner, I will promote a scheme of reducing the start up costs and assistance via the County Council to re energise retail establishments.

Our policy is to collect VAT (as it currently is) but have a percentage kept locally for local projects, this could include purchasing shop units for use as ‘drop in centres’ for local use.

 

 

From Michael – Cornwall has only developed its own HE structure over the last 10 years.  What is your view on student top up fess for Falmouth?

I support UKIP policy on education which is for all education to be free to all students including fees and accommodation. We would issue accommodation vouchers and if a student wanted to ‘top up’ these vouchers’ from own funds they would be able to do so.

 

Q – Helen – I recently had a family member in hospital. I have a child and work part time.  Owing to the ever increasing fees, I spent around £100 on parking. When you factor in buying my mother fruit, magazines etc (and the odd coffee), it cost me around £200 pounds to see her over several weeks.  What are you going to do about this?  

A – As the costs and strain on visiting you mother is a personal matter, I am unable to assist and strongly suggest you approach the Citizens’ Advice Bureaux for guidance and help.

UKIP policy on education, which is for all education to be free to all students including fees and accommodation. We would issue accommodation vouchers and if a student wanted to ‘top up’ these vouchers’ from own funds they would be able to do so and these policies will go some way to offset the overall costs you face.

 

Q – Laura – What do you expect from the final televised debate? And what is your plan for the final week of campaigning?

A – As at the time of writing, the debate has already taken place I am pleasantly surprised to hear they have accepted some of our policies and concern on immigration, but totally failed to grasp the concept that by leaving EU legislation we will be in some way moving toward curing our financial crises and enable us to determine who actually moves here so have control our own destiny.

During this last few days, I will continue to campaign, Do you want to help?

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What do you think of Harry's answers? Having covered both local and national issues, do you know anything now that you didn't know before? Has this affected your choice of vote?