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Jun 2024
'We will take votes off the Tories’, says Harrogate Reform UK candidate
The Stray Ferret has spoken to all the candidates running for election in the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency and will be running features on each of them. Here, Jonathan Swales of Reform UK talks about what his priorities would be if elected.
Reform UK is looking to attract disaffected Conservative voters at this general election, including in Harrogate and Knaresborough.
Jonathan Swales, who has been a member of the party since March 2023, has been picked to contest the seat on July 4.
Mr Swales, a former Conservative voter himself, chose to join Reform after finding that the party aligned closer to his values.
In an interview with the Stray Ferret, he said he felt the party’s policies on smaller state, personal freedoms and lower taxes were more suited to him.
I had been a Conservative voter most of my life, one of Thatcher’s children if you like.
In the last five years of the Conservative government, I felt there was something fundamentally wrong with them and I didn’t feel aligned with them anymore.
Mr Swales stood for Reform UK for the first time in a by-election for Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone ward on North Yorkshire Council in April.
After finishing fourth in the count, he put himself forward for the nomination to stand in Harrogate and Knaresborough on polling day.
Jonathan Swales
Mr Swales said cost of living and housing were big issues in Harrogate and Knaresborough on the doorstep.
He added that people were taxed too highly and that household bills had also increased.
But, Mr Swales said the direction of travel of the country was also an issue that had been brought up on the doorstep during the campaign.
He said:
A lot of people have said they are not happy and they’re not comfortable with where we are going.
Reform leader Nigel Farage revealed Reform’s pledges, known as the party’s “contract” with voters, on Monday.
The policies included increasing the personal allowance, tax cuts for small businesses and scrapping VAT on energy bills and removing the UK commitment to net zero emissions.
Mr Swales said those pledges in particular would help people who had brought up the cost of living on the doorstep.
Targeting the Conservatives
Nationally, the party is looking to target disaffected Conservative voters.
A recent poll by Survation, which was carried out after Mr Farage returned as leader of Reform, found that the party was performing well in seats where the Tories were predicted to lose the most voters.
Locally, Mr Swales expects to challenge the Conservative candidate, Andrew Jones.
The number of shy Reform voters in Harrogate will be surprising, I think. I would be surprised if we don’t get between 15 and 18 per cent of the vote.
Survation currently predicts that Reform will take 8.9% of the vote in Harrogate and Knaresborough.
Mr Swales said he generally ignored polls, but pointed to the fact that since Mr Farage returned to Reform its vote nationally had increased.
When asked whether he felt the return Mr Farage as leader would help him in his campaign in Harrogate and Knaresborough, he was unequivocal.
He is definitely a positive for us, yes. We get great feedback from people when we talk about him.
He also raises the profile of Reform, which also raises our profile.
He expects much of that raised profile will help him to target disaffected voters of the major parties, in particular the Conservatives.
We have got volunteers who are former Conservatives who just can’t with honest face vote Conservative anymore. I will be taking votes from the Conservatives, definitely.
Regardless of whether Reform wins in Harrogate and Knaresborough or not, Mr Swales said the project of growing its base in the constituency will continue.
He points to elections for an incoming Harrogate Town Council as the party’s next target.
As soon as this election is over, our next project will be to get some guys on Harrogate Town Council. Then we have got 2029 to look forward to. I’m in it for the long run.
The full list of candidates for Harrogate and Knaresborough are as follows:
- Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat
- Paul Haslam, Independent
- Andrew Jones, Conservative
- Shan Oakes, Green Party
- Stephen Douglas Metcalfe, Independent
- Jonathan Swales, Reform UK
- Conrad Whitcroft, Labour
The Stray Ferret will be hosting hustings events in both Harrogate and Ripon ahead of election day. You can sign up to attend the Harrogate event here and Ripon hustings here.
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