BEN FEARN

The Derbyshire Dales may have an affluent image to some, but the reality is different. The Dales gets one of the lowest government grants in the UK, and wages in the Dales are the lowest in the whole of Derbyshire. Our MP, Patrick McLoughlin, has a prestigious post as Transport Secretary, so he will have little motivation to bang on the door of the government to get a fairer deal for the Dales. I want to reverse that.

 

I campaigned to get a higher grant for the Dales, so that residents get a fairer deal for the taxes that they pay, and so local government cuts are mitigated. I want a New Deal for each of the five towns of the Dales - Ashbourne, Bakewell, Darley Dale, Matlock and Wirksworth - to help our local communities and more than 100 Dales villages thrive. A study by the Electoral Reform Society, entitled “How much is my vote worth?”, found that each vote in the Dales is worth just 44p in terms of how much the political parties spend here; near the bottom of the league table for spending.

 

Voter participation and engagement is vitally important to me. I want a Liberal Democrat presence in the Dales, but I also want people to turn out and vote. I have always believed that you get change by voting for change; that’s why I spoke to sixth formers at my old school Highfields in Matlock to emphasise this point. I was not partisan in my speech, and I stressed that it is important to vote; even if it’s not for me - vote!

 

What’s been done since my selection in January 2014:

 

• We have revamped the Derbyshire Dales Liberal Democrats website, and created social media outlets which had not previously existed in the local party; Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pages

• A day after my selection, I met and spoke with the two oldest members of the local party; Alun Thomas of Winster, and Sabine Hanbury of Ashbourne

• In the Spring of 2014, I gave a non-partisan talk to the sixth formers of Highfields School in Matlock, emphasising the value of voting, as well as providing a historical background for voting patterns

  • I publicly called for any debates between myself and my fellow candidates to be televised or screened/recorded. This happened on two occasions (in Wirksworth and Ashbourne - see video links below), therefore keeping the general public informed and engaged.

  • I attended a green debate in Wirksworth in November, with a talk given by Professor Bill McGuire. The talk helped to emphasise the importance of pushing environmental issues higher up the agenda. A key statistic which stayed with me was this; 400,000 years ago, the global temperature was only 1 degree higher than it is now, and the Greenland ice sheets didn’t exist then

  • Appeared 4 times on BBC Radio Derby; firstly to discuss my selection, secondly for an informal talk on my favourite music, to express my support for votes at 16 and to give my view on the pre-election Budget

  • I took part in the National Youth Debate at Derby YMCA at the end of March 2015 and, a day later, debated the NHS with three of my fellow candidates at Wirksworth Town Hall. This debate is available to view on YouTube.  

  • Four further hustings took place in Eyam, Ashbourne, Bakewell and Matlock. View my introduction at the Ashbourne event and the full video in two parts:

  1. Video | Ashbourne hustings part 1

  2. Video | Ashbourne hustings part 2 

I attended all 5 election debates, as did the Conservative and Green Party candidates. The Labour and Humanity candidates attended 4 out of the 5 and UKIP just 1.