Election interview: Jonny Roberts
With just three days to go before the General Election, Newbury Today is re-running interviews with each of the eight candidates standing for the Newbury seat that first appeared in the Newbury Weekly News.
Today we profile Labour candidate Jonny Roberts on his policies and his chances in the upcoming May 7 General Election.
Keep an eye on our website in the run up to the election for all of the Parliamentary profiles.
“WE want to shake things up.”
With just one week left until the General Election we spoke to Labour candidate Jonny Roberts about what his party would offer the Newbury constituency.
He said: “Locally, Labour isn’t the establishment and we want to shake things up round here.
“We have changed in a lot of ways, the main one being that we are slowly finding out the idea of reshaping the economy so it works for everyone, not just the rich.”
Mr Roberts has lived in Newbury for the past five years with his wife and they are expecting their first child towards the end of the year.
He said one problem facing the area is the large number of unqualified teachers working in schools.
He said: “I want to see teachers going through teacher training. It’s a safeguard that most parents want to see.
“We would ban unqualified teachers from working in schools and that will raise standards considerably.”
He added that he would solve the growing recruitment crisis facing schools in the area by tackling other issues, such as the cost of living.
He added: “Part of the problem is the high cost of living and that’s why we need more affordable housing here.
“Nationally, everyone agrees we need more housing. There are a lot of people who can’t afford to get on to the housing ladder as some of their parents could.”
He also wants to see an expansion of technical colleges for those aged between 14 and 19 to teach vocational skills.
He said recently-announced proposals to cut the higher needs budget were “not the right area to make cuts. We think that major savings can be made by working more intelligently.”
He proposed greater sharing of resources with neighbouring local authorities and explained: “We have a really inefficient way of running the council and we have to look at how we run the back office [administration].
“I think it’s in the back office area where we have huge potential for sharing resources.”
He admitted that as a result “there could be some job cuts”, but added: “These increased efficiencies would protect services for the most vulnerable.”
He said the NHS was “run in a really inefficient way” and he supports Labour’s plans to bolster the service and that looked-after children – those taken into care by local authority – “is an area for me which is a top priority and a passion”.
He said: “The fact is that here in West Berkshire we have focused on things that are very public – for example potholes, litter etc – which are very important, but this issue has escaped our attention because they are hidden away. There are not high numbers here but every single one is a human tragedy.”
On the expected scramble for coalition partners post May 7, Mr Roberts said: “I don’t think Labour will go into coalition and will run a minority government which I think is a good thing.”
On immigration he said: “When people are concerned about this they are not anti these people, they are worried about where are all the houses are going to go, are the roads able to cope with this, are they going to have to leave the house earlier just to beat the traffic.”
He added: “This is going to be the most interesting election since we have had universal suffrage and I think everyone’s vote counts more than usual.
“I don’t think there is a safe seat any more – people just have to vote with their hearts.”
Also standing in the General Election for the Newbury constituency is Barrie Singleton (Independent), Andrew Stott (Patriotic Socialist), Peter Norman (Labour), Catherine Anderson (UKIP), Paul Field (Green), Judith Bunting (Liberal Democrat) and sitting MP Richard Benyon (Conservative).
