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14
Jul 2023
Last Updated: 13/07/2023
Selby and Ainsty by-election candidates have their say – Part 2
Mike Jordan of the Yorkshire Party, and Dave Kent of Reform UK, shaking hands with party leader Richard Tice.
This article is the second 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’re 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.
Yesterday, we featured independent Andrew Gray and Claire Holmes of the Conservative Party. Continuing to take their surnames in alphabetical order, today's candidates are Mike Jordan of the Yorkshire Party and Dave Kent of Reform UK.
Tomorrow: Keir Mather (Labour), Nick Palmer (independent), and Guy Phoenix (Heritage Party).
Mike Jordan, Yorkshire Party
Mike Jordan has been a county councillor since 2009 and currently represents the Camblesforth & Carlton division on North Yorkshire Council. He was a member of the Conservative Party before he joined the Yorkshire Party, which campaigns for a Yorkshire Parliament, in 2018. He moved back to the Tories, but he then quit the party again, causing it to lose its majority on the council, and now sits as an independent.
To add to the confusion, the Yorkshire Party is not mentioned next to Mr Jordan’s name on the official list of candidates – the space is blank, due to an administrative error. But he assures the Stray Ferret that his name will be on the ballot paper as the Yorkshire Party candidate.
“In a nutshell, this is a unique opportunity for the residents of Selby and Ainsty. This by-election is for a year’s term in office. So why not lend me your vote, just for the year and send me down to London. I am the only candidate that will force them to sit up and think about Yorkshire.
“Selby and Ainsty will be effectively representing Yorkshire in this election. It’s a numbers game down there, and so voting for any of the main parties will be like pouring a pint of water in the sea and expecting to see it rise. Not happening.”
Dave Kent, Reform UK
A populist hardline Eurosceptic party founded by Nigel Farage in 2018 as the Brexit Party.
"I live just outside Selby, in the village of Hambleton. This is no pretence when I say ‘I love the area and its people’.
"That said, people are facing issues that need strong leadership to bring people with hope and improve the town of Selby by using a Beverley town mentality to bring people into this lovely town.
"There are many ways this can be done; one is to bring produce from local farmer shop with benefits for doing this and create a boutique shop style as well. With incentives for doing this.
"Our rivers are being polluted by sewage entering the River Wharfe near Wetherby. This is something you would expect from a Third World country. Unfortunately, any fines are much lower than the money to improve. This is affecting our area, but also the whole country as similar issues elsewhere where Reform UK is needed.
"Probably for the first time since the war, local issues are also national issues. The cost of living is soaring, inflation is running at eye-watering levels, and the people on the street are feeling the pinch. Reform UK would do several things to combat this.
"It was brought to this country’s attention a couple weeks ago that supermarkets have been profiting by large amounts on fuel; we believe food is having a similar thing, and gas too.
"They have used a chance to say ‘aw Covid, aw Ukraine’, yet our farmers are not getting any more for the food they produce, so somewhere in between, someone is making a killing.
"Net zero, according to KPMG, will cost each household £1,000 this year; this is madness, since what they are doing will not change our climate one bit. Also mortgage rates, one of the only jobs for the Bank of England to do and they can’t do that right.
"Much more to say, but I am limited."
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