Selby and Ainsty By-election: Nick Palmer seeks re-think

To help our readers decide how to vote, The Press approached all 13 candidates who hope to become the next MP for the constituency of Selby and Ainsty.

We have asked for their views on a range of topics, and we will publish their responses both in print and online.

Today, we feature Nick Palmer, Independent.

1. What is the biggest national issue facing the country and what would you do about it?

There are many issues.  Two of the biggest (planning and broken democracy) are largely hidden.

We pretend that we have a functioning democracy, but I only hear frustration and anger on the doorstep.

Trust in politics is so low that we don’t have any honest debate about what is possible, wanted or affordable on any national issue.

Honest, diverse opinions don’t always “sound nice”, and so they risk being ignored. Especially by party politicians desperate to win “swing” votes.

My message is “Do Better!” I want to make Westminster realise we can live without the party political chaos.

If elected, I’ll use my professional skillset to scrutinise the systems and processes that are needed to deliver democracy.

Decades of broken politics has allowed many of the following issues to fester.

1. What is the biggest local issue facing Selby and Ainsty, and what would you do about it?

The issues vary across the constituency, but always seem to include planning, anti-social behaviour and infrastructure.

It will take an independent MP to puncture the tribal deadlock at Westminster, and highlight the need for difficult decisions.  This has been my professional skillset for 20 years.

1. What caused the cost of living crisis? How would you solve it?

Multiple factors caused the cost of living crisis. To seek one cause is to give false hope. 

My view is that we are over-reliant on debt and easy money, and have been for too long. 

For example, we can’t address the cost of living crisis as we might like, because we never tidied up the last mess.

Our debt frustrates everything we do. At some point we must payback. 

Alongside the other by-election candidates, I won’t get to solve this because I’m not going to be Prime Minister.  My only offer is scrutiny, a desire to rebuild trust and honesty.

1. Net Zero / Green Energy? Energy security?

My experiences suggest that significantly more scrutiny is required to make a success of Net Zero.

I suspect we can’t stop fossil fuels as soon as we’d like, but it should be the focus of our industrial strategy to lead the global drive for renewable energy.

Major planning reform is required to deliver Net Zero.

1. What would you tell the COVID Inquiry?

Covid showed the best and worst of this country.

COVID was such an unusual event, that we need to be fair to politicians.

Mistakes were made, and they shouldn’t be ignored.

If we are to repair our broken politics, we need a learning-process inquiry, not a witch-hunt.

1. NHS: Something to celebrate at 75?

Yes. But we also need to be honest with ourselves. The NHS situation isn’t “in control”.

As grateful as I am for the NHS, it worries my business brain that there’s no cost measurement for any visit.

The world has changed since the NHS was designed. If we want the concept to survive, we need to be honest about what we want, and what we can do as citizens to help it survive.

We need more attention on carers and the unseen work that they do.

1. The housing crisis?

Planning reform is critical to many national problems.

There’s more we could do to accelerate the repair and growth of housing stock.

I won’t be Prime Minister, so what follows is a suggestion rather than a promise. I want a “national service” for housebuilding.

A Yorkshire “regiment” of young people learning skills necessary for building. Funded by throughput. Employees to share in net profits. 

Renovations first, then new build. Compulsory purchase for properties that have been vacant for certain period of time.

We need action, it’s a national emergency.

1. Immigration

This situation is not “in control”.

Because media coverage focuses on racism and ideology squabbles, we’re not getting anywhere.

I agree with the need for innovative solutions, but I imagine there are more obvious options before Rwanda?!

1. Final rallying call:

The Selby and Ainsty by-election is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebel.

This is a Westminster by-election that will change nothing at Westminster.

We might as well protest, there are no consequences!

We don’t need to burn our towns down like the French, we just need to break our dependency on two parties.

The country will not collapse if we vote independent, but it will serve up some humble pie.

Politics needs new ideas.  Most “challenger” candidates need to win a general election to deliver their promises.

That won’t happen, because this is a by-election, and also because only two parties are likely to win a general election. Therefore, most challenger votes are wasted.

However, my promise to serve humble pie can happen in a by-election victory.

#DoBetter, Westminster! Widen the national debate, rethink the processes by which democracy is delivered to voters.