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Selby and Ainsty by-election candidates Luke Wellock of the Climate Party, and Tyler Callum Wilson-Kerr, independent.
This is the sixth and final article of a series of six.
Voters across parts of the district will be heading to the polls on Thursday (July 20), when Selby and Ainsty holds a by-election triggered by the dramatic resignation last month of MP Nigel Adams.
Most of the Selby and Ainsty constituency lies beyond our district’s borders – it stretches almost as far as Goole and Doncaster – but its northern end does encompass Huby, Follifoot, Spofforth and some of the villages in the Vale of York, such as Tockwith, Green Hammerton and Long Marston.
There’s a broad field to choose from – there are 13 candidates – but who are they, and what do they believe?
In the lead-up to the by-election, we’ve been spotlighting two or three each day, giving constituents the opportunity to read about the people who wish to represent them at Westminster – in their own words.
So far, we've featured Andrew Gray (independent), Claire Holmes (Conservative), Mike Jordan (Yorkshire Party), Dave Kent (Reform UK), Keir Mather (Labour), Nick Palmer (independent), Guy Phoenix (Heritage Party), Sir Archibald Stanton (Official Monster Raving Loony Party), and Matt Walker (Liberal Democrats), Arnold Warneken (Green Party), and John Waterston (Social Democratic Party).
Continuing to take their surnames in alphabetical order, our final candidates are Luke Wellock of the Climate Party, and Tyler Callum Wilson-Kerr, independent.
Luke Wellock, Climate Party
A centre-right party founded in 2022 that is “100% focused on climate change”.
"The Climate Party is Britain’s only single-issue party focused solely on solving the climate and biodiversity crisis. We will do so by mobilising businesses, both big and small, to seize the zero-carbon economic opportunity.
"The Met Office has just confirmed that June 2023 was the hottest June ever recorded in the UK. Climate change is no longer something we can deal with in the future, it is here now.
"The current government's target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is simply not soon enough. They’re choosing to kick the can down the road, risking our futures, and leaving Britain behind in the low-carbon industrial revolution race.
"The Climate Party has an alternative vision: we want Britain to become a sustainable economic powerhouse, leading the world when it comes to tackling climate change.
"Firstly, we will introduce a target to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2030. Yes, that’s a mere seven years from now, but when it came to the Covid pandemic or the banking crisis, which threatened all our futures, we worked at pace to find solutions. We need the same resolve when it comes to climate change.
"We will drive unprecedented investment in renewable energy. This will make us energy-independent and bring an end to our reliance on expensive fossil fuels which have been at the heart of the cost-of-living crisis. We will work with the construction industry to rapidly roll out a retrofit programme, helping millions of people living in poorly insulated homes to cut their energy use and lower their bills.
"We will incentivise businesses to innovate and create jobs in exciting new industries like energy storage, and encourage and support our farmers to embrace regenerative agriculture practices to ensure our food security and restore our countryside.
"We will halt greenbelt development, and empower local communities to protect and re-wild their natural spaces. We will electrify our local, regional and national public transport networks, and make them affordable and accessible to everyone.
"A zero-carbon Britain is a Britain we will all benefit from, so on July 20 please vote for me to choose a better future."
Tyler Callum Wilson-Kerr, Independent
The youngest candidate standing, this proud 24-year-old Yorkshireman from Garforth works for an aerospace engineering firm in Leeds and is a councillor for Aberford & District Parish.
"I may be a young Tyke at 24, but I'm a grafter, working as an aerospace engineer and formerly as a Tesco keyworker in lockdown. I also am devoted to public service, being a Parish Councillor for Aberford & District Parish Council, and I wish to see better lives for everyone who lives not just in this constituency, but across Britain.
"By my campaigning for a One Yorkshire Devolution over the last two years, I have created a network of influence in Westminster. By speaking with MPs of all parties, talking to journalists, appearing on national radio, writing articles in The Yorkshire Post and other regional newspapers, I have played a part in getting Yorkshire noticed down in Whitehall, and helped create a new energy in Yorkshire politics.
"The facts speak for themselves – people in Yorkshire have fewer job opportunities, lower wages, higher bills, worse NHS outcomes, more potholes, fewer buses, worse trains, and less self-confidence than other regions of Britain which have home rule on a Devolved Assembly basis,
like in London, Wales, and Scotland.
"Yorkshire is Bigger than London and more populous than Wales and Scotland, yet we have no similar powers over ourselves nor a strong say in where our taxes are spent. For example, I'm certain the people of Selby would rather see their tax money spent on re-opening 24-hour service at Selby War Memorial Hospital rather than it being wasted on Rwanda deportation flights or paying for Rishi Sunak's jet fuel as he waltzes around the world.
"I shall use the office of MP to put together the Yorkshire Act (2024), a Parliamentary Bill to create a form of Yorkshire Home Rule. Yorkshire is big enough, clever enough, and happy enough to rule itself. This is the way to create a stronger, richer, more united Britain, and stop the secessionist movements in Scotland and Wales, by taking the wind out of the sails of independence parties who seek to divide Britain.
"I am in this election for Yorkshire. A vote for Cllr Tyler Callum Wilson-Kerr is a vote of confidence for the future of Yorkshire."
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