East Hampshire candidates explain why they deserve your vote ahead of General Election on July 4

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked all candidates standing for the East Hampshire constituency to tell voters why they should earn their vote.

The seat has been held by Conservative’s Damian Hinds since 2010 although the constituency will be subject to major boundary change this time around. YouGov has projected another win for Conservatives, with nearly 40 per cent of the vote share.

Damian Patrick George Hinds, Conservative Party candidate

Surgeries, public meetings, correspondence, casework, and working with community organisations are vital to be connected to constituents. It is also often the most rewarding part of the role and one I take most seriously.

A general election is about your own MP; it is also of course about the government of our country.

I know you may not agree with everything my party has done, and you’ve felt frustrated. At times I’ve been frustrated, too.

But since 2010: the unemployment rate has almost halved, our growth is the third highest in the G7. Crime is down. And England’s school results have improved dramatically compared to others.

Labour are saying “time for change” and I understand why that can appeal. But the question is: change to what?

We need to chart a course that affords excellent public services, while reducing the tax burden. That requires strong business investment, skills, job-creation and growth. We have the track record on that.

But whoever it is in government, my commitment to you will always be the same, to be the most effective representative I can be, and to secure the best for East Hampshire.

Matthew Kellermann, Reform UK candidate

For over twenty years, Alton has been my home. My wife and I have raised our three children in East Hampshire. We consider ourselves “locals”, who know the area well. Last year I decided it was time for me to step up and stand for office. I was successful and became a town councillor for Alton – Wooteys ward.

Growing up in 1970s London, I developed a keen interest in politics. I experienced the chaos of strikes and threat of IRA terror attacks. However, I was also fully aware of the wonderful sense of community and the positive contributions from integrated immigrants.

Since that time, I have seen Britain change and not for the better. The false promises, incompetence and divisive policies of the three “traditional” parties have broken Britain and our beloved Nation is now on its knees.

Runaway development of greenfield sites, mismanagement of public services, horrific levels of crime, rampant taxation, outrageous increases in the cost of living prompted (in part) by the fanatical pursuit of Net Zero and (last but not least) record mass immigration have combined to ruin the lives of British people.

Reform UK offers a no-nonsense alternative.

Richard Godfrey Knight, Green Party candidate

I was born in Singapore to British parents and spent my childhood in Greece and Switzerland with a four-year period at boarding school in the UK.

I studied architecture at university in London. After I qualified, I changed tack and have been creating custom software for specialised businesses. I now focus on businesses working on handling the climate crisis.

I am a father to a daughter, 12 and a son, 8; my wife died of cancer in 2023. I first stood as the Green Party Candidate for East Hampshire at the 2017 elections.

On May 8, The Guardian reported a survey from leading climate scientists predicting that global temperatures will break through the 1.5°C target for this century, likely reaching between 2.5°C and 3°C. We’re already seeing the impacts through forest fires, floods, rising sea levels, and extreme weather. The consequences are dire. Working on this should be our main focus in all that we do next.

The UK has an oversized influence on world opinion and what we do matters. It matters not only to the UK but also in terms of what other governments feel empowered to do. Our domestic failure to take the Climate Crisis seriously gives permission to others to follow our poor example.

Jim Makin, Hampshire Independents candidate

Reason for Standing: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12

Resident of Petersfield. Retired, following a working life in Information Technology, mainly for manufacturing enterprises using IT to support their businesses.

Manifesto Summary:

• Leave the WHO and all putative global governance bodies that are unaccountable to “we the people”. The internal affairs of the UK are a matter for the people of the UK only, through their true representatives in Parliament.
• Banish political parties from Parliament. They are unaccountable for election promises and plainly controlled by external UN/WEF agencies. Elected MPs should be accountable to their constituents only.
• Discard the antagonistic tradition of “government” and “opposition”, reform Parliament around policy groups (current prototype: APPGs). We are stronger when we cooperate than when we fight.
• Delete the Crown Prosecution Service bureaucracy, return responsibility for prosecutions to the police where it belongs.
• Reform the Police to honour their oath as constables, to serve the people, and to uphold the law without fear or favour.

Dominic David William Martin, Liberal Democrat candidate

I am honoured and delighted to have been selected to fight the next general election in East Hampshire on behalf of the Liberal Democrats.

I am not a career politician and have entered politics rather later in life than most first-time candidates. After nearly thirty years in public service, formerly an ambassador, and a further decade in the private sector working in green energy, becoming an MP was certainly not on my bucket list. But the chaos of the last eight years convinced me that I couldn’t carry on just being a spectator as this Government continuously fails to address the challenges this country faces. If I felt so strongly, I had to become a participant myself. And so here I am.

Change is desperately needed if this country is going to deal with the cost-of-living crisis and rebuild our public services – in particular the NHS. We have an environmental crisis in our rivers and coasts that needs urgent attention. But instead, the Conservatives seem more interested in looking for ways to water down their environmental commitments.

Asked to describe my political philosophy, I would say that I am a proud centrist. I want to see the return of serious, sane, professional policy-making, based on real evidence and data.

Lucy Emma Sims, Labour Party candidate

I am a full time mum and volunteer and I currently live in Winchester. I moved to Hampshire 10 years ago, after studying Sociology and Education and completing a PhD at Cardiff University. I have previously worked as a research assistant on various projects for universities and third sector organisations.

During the pandemic, when I stepped back from work to help my children learn at home, I got involved in fundraising for my children’s school and became a parent governor. I also help supervise children on school trips.

When I talk to other school governors from across Hampshire at training events, I hear a lot of the same desperate stories. Parents are waiting years for suitable school places, children and young people cannot access mental health support, budgets are squeezed and headteachers are struggling to recruit and retain the quality staff they need to tackle educational disadvantage across the county. Schools are literally falling apart and it is no wonder when we have had six Tory Education Secretaries in the last five years.

We need a Labour government to put an end to this chaos and remove barriers to opportunity. The last Labour government played a pivotal role in raising aspirations for people from working class families like myself.

Sara Margaret Smith, Social Democratic Party candidate

I am a retired civil service barrister who lives in Rowlands Castle and is most familiar with the Rowlands Castle, Horndean and Petersfield side of the constituency. I have never stood for local government and am standing in this constituency as a self funding candidate for the Social Democratic Party so that voters who support the party have a candidate to vote for to show their preference. Every vote should count.

I also believe that every constituency MP should represent their constituents’ views over government policies even if there is disagreement just as a barrister represents his client on his clients instructions.