York election issues

HARD to believe now, after three successive comfortable victories for Labour's Hugh Bayley, but until 1992 York was a Conservative marginal. Before then, Labour MPs had been returned only a handful of times in the city's history.

With Mr Bayley holding the seat with a solid 13,779 majority in 2001, it looks unlikely that he will be toppled this time, barring a disaster for Labour. The Tories' Clive Booth and the Lib Dems' Andrew Waller may beg to differ, however - and certainly part of the reason for Labour's healthy majority four years ago was that the opposition vote was split between the other two big parties.

The smaller parties should not be discounted, either - especially by those keen to register a protest vote. If nothing else, York's long and diverse list of candidates this time should ensure lively debate over the next week.

York has always been a diverse constituency, combining the historical (the Minster, Shambles, the medieval walls) with the industrial (railways, chocolate, engineering and chemicals).

It remains a diverse city, but it is a changing one.

Traditional industry (exemplified by Terry's and the coachworks) is giving way to hi-tech industry (Science City) and jobs in finance and the service sectors.

Traditional working-class elements of York's culture such as working men's clubs sometimes seem as though they are being marginalised; and the flat-building boom is proof of the influx of people coming into the city to take up the often comparatively well-paid new jobs.

In many ways York is booming. Unemployment is low, knowledge-based industries are thriving - largely due to the continued success of the University of York, which itself actually lies outside the constituency - and the city is about to enjoy unprecedented international attention with the arrival in June of Royal Ascot.

But there are still problems. Today, 105 workers at Terry's lose their jobs.

The retail sector has shown signs of wobbling, with the closure of Woolworths at Monks Cross and Allders at Clifton Moor.

House prices are proving a real difficulty for young people wanting to get their feet on the first rung of the housing ladder, while petty crime and anti-social behaviour remain perennial problems, at least in many people's minds.

Development is always contentious, whether on green field sites such as Derwenthorpe or on key central York sites such as Coppergate. Traffic and parking are high on many residents' lists of hates too.

We ask four York voters about the issues that concern them...

Gill Thompson

LAST month, 57-year-old polio-sufferer Gill Thompson, who needs reconstructive surgery on her right foot, was told she faced a two-year wait just for her first outpatient appointment.

After the Evening Press highlighted her plight, she has now had an appointment with an orthopaedic consultant. But she was nevertheless furious when she received a Labour newsletter claiming no one had to wait more than nine months for an NHS appointment.

"It is obviously not true!" she says.

Naturally enough, the state of the health service is top of Gill's concerns. Targets are all very well, she says. "But sometimes people who are in greater need but don't fall within a particular target category get pushed to one side."

The NHS needs to sort out its priorities, and be more transparent about how and where money is spent and how long patients are really having to wait, she says. Patients shouldn't have to push and push before being given basic information.

Council tax is another issue that concerns Gill, who lives in Woodthorpe. It is absurd that older, retired couples who live in big houses but only have their pensions to live on, pay more than younger couples with double incomes who may live in a smaller house. She favours the Lib Dem idea of replacing council tax with a local income tax, which would be fairer.

As someone who works with elderly dementia patients, she is also angry about the lack of appropriate care for those with dementia. Property prices mean that many homes for elderly dementia patients have been closed and redeveloped as flats: a real problem, she says.

Gill will be voting - it is important to exercise your right to vote, she says. But she has not yet decided who for. "I'm waiting to see what the candidates say."

Ruth Hone

As a young, single woman who goes out to work every day and recently bought her own home, Ruth admits she has felt left out during this election. Politicians have been competing with each other to come up with the most family-friendly policies, and over who will do the best for education.

"But I'm a single person, struggling to pay a mortgage and council tax and everything else that goes on top, and there doesn't seem to be anything aimed at me," she says.

Not that she has anything against education, or the family - the 31-year-old office manager of Pink estate agents in Bootham hopes to start her own family one day.

"But it would be nice if there was some sort of recognition that people like me are here," she says.

The issues that particularly concern her are house prices, personal safety - she sometimes feels vulnerable when out on the street, she says, and feels the police are under-resourced and over-burdened with bureaucracy - and pensions.

"At the moment I really don't know what to do about my pension," she says. "I know I should take out a private pension but I cannot afford to."

She is also worried about the NHS. She recently visited York's private Nuffield Hospital with her sister.

"I have never been so impressed in my life," she says. "I walked out of there thinking I should take out private health care. But the NHS should be reaching those standards. At the moment it doesn't have the resources, but I would probably be willing to pay more income tax if I knew what it was going towards."

Like Gill and Jim, Ruth will be voting on May 5 - and she too has not yet made up her mind. "I'm here to be persuaded," she says.

Jim Hardie

The licensee of the Blue Bell in Fossgate admits he is disillusioned with politicians and their broken promises. "There is all this stuff in the manifestos, and nothing ever seems to come to fruition, whether it is health, education, crime," he says.

He is not impressed by politicians who say they are going to reduce taxes. They may take a penny off income tax, he says, but they will just take it back again in the form of 'stealth taxes'.

National Insurance is one of his bugbears. As an employer, every increase in National Insurance hits him hard, he says. He's not too keen on the new licensing act, either. Previously he paid £10 every three years for his license. In future, it will be more like £200 a year.

Jim mourns the passing of traditional working-class values, he worries about crime, and he resents the intrusion of the nanny state into things it should keep its nose out of.

Smoking in pubs is one example. "If the whole country stopped smoking tomorrow they would have to put beer up to £10 a pint to raise the revenue," he says.

Locally, what annoys him is parking charges. "People are not willing to pay them and a lot of businesses are suffering like mad," he says.

Despite his general lack of enthusiasm for politicians, Jim will vote on May 5. But like Gill, he hasn't yet decided who for.

Kevin Shepherd

Former council gardener Kevin believes public services in York have been going downhill ever since local councils were told to contract out work to private companies.

The city's public parks aren't a patch on what they used to be, the Chapelfields Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator says.

It is the same with hospitals and their contracted-our cleaning services, he says. He blames contracted-out cleaners for the rise in hospital superbugs such as MRSA.

"It is not how well you do a job now, it is how quickly you do it," the 65-year-old says.

Crime, including petty crime, vandalism and anti-social behaviour, also concerns him. He blames TV and a general lack of discipline among young people.

"TV gives them ideas, and shows them how to do things," he says. "People say 'it was never like this in our day'. That's because we never had TV."

The police generally do a good job, Kevin says, but he would like to see the courts taking a tougher line with young troublemakers.

"And National Service would be a good thing," he says.

When it comes to who to vote for, he's unsure but tending towards Hugh Bayley. For 28 years he has always voted Liberal Democrat, but Mr Bayley appears to be a good constituency MP, Kevin says. "So if I do vote, it will probably be for him."

York facts:

MP since 2001: Hugh Bayley, Labour

Labour majority at the last election: 13,779

Candidates for May 5 2005:

Hugh Bayley - Labour

Clive Booth - Conservative

Ken Curran - Independent

Andy D'Agorne - Green

Damian Mark Fleck - Dungeons, Death and Taxes Party

Andrew Thomas Hinkles - Independent

Richard Jackson - UKIP

Andrew Waller - Liberal Democrat

Updated: 10:59 Friday, April 29, 2005