Category: General Election 2017

Simon Platt is the pro-life candidate in Preston

At every general election, volunteers from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children seek to interview candidates about their voting intentions on pro-life issues and inform voters about their candidates’ views. A few minutes ago, on returning home after an appointment with a constituent, I found the following leaflet among the mail in my hall:

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I am glad to reaffirm my commitment to the pro-life cause.

You can also see my voting intentions on pro-life issues at Where Do They Stand. (Green indicates a pro-life response. At the time of writing none of the other candidates for Preston have offered responses; you can ask them via the find a candidate page.)

I have also (today, coincidentally) replied to an enquiry from We’re All Equal. They asked

Would you vote in support of a Bill, similar to Lord Shinkwin’s Abortion (Disability Equality) Bill, that would seek to remove section 1(1)(d) from the 1967 Abortion Act?

I replied

If elected I would vote in support of a bill similar to Lord Shinkwin’s Abortion (Disability Equality) Bill. I would make it a high priority. Abortion is a terrible thing, and the eugenic discrimination against disabled children enshrined in the 1967 Abortion Act is a doubly damning indictment of our society’s failure to protect the weakest among us. Lord Shinkwin’s campaign to protect disabled children in the womb is inspiring and I support it wholeheartedly.

Vote Local

All through this election campaign I have been telling people that whatever happens in Preston will not change the government, and that they should therefore “vote local”. Theresa May has called this election to secure her position as Prime Minister and, I hope, to strengthen her position in Brexit negotiations with our European neighbours. On June the 9th we shall still have a Conservative government led by Theresa May, probably with an increased majority. Nothing Prestonians do can change that.

Don’t believe me? Perhaps you’ll believe this Labour Party candidate, and sitting MP, for Enfield North, a constituency in London:

“… no one thinks Theresa May will not be Prime Minister, or that she will not have the majority she needs to negotiate Brexit.”

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Letter from Joan Ryan (Labour, Enfield North). Source: order-order.com

To be fair to Joan Ryan, she seems like a good local candidate. “Independent-minded”, she says, unlike our own Mark Hendrick, who does what his Labour Party bosses tell him to do (when he can be bothered to turn up at all – see publicwhip.org.uk). But the main point here is this: in Preston, we are not voting for Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn to be Prime Minister, we are voting for our local representative.

So vote for the best local candidate. That candidate is me. I am the only Prestonian among the five candidates; the only one with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents from Preston (I’m sorry I don’t know about the fourth generation); the only one with children born and raised in Preston, the only one with a long-term, intergenerational interest in Preston, the only one for whom Preston is more than just a means to an end, a means to a political career.

Vote for the only candidate who really cares about Preston, its people, its future. Vote Platt for Preston.

My message in the Lancashire Post

All the Preston candidates were given the opportunity to submit a 100-word statement for publication in last Tuesday’s Evening Post (I learned that even staff at the paper haven’t got used to calling it the “Lancashire Post”, so I don’t feel so bad when I call it the Evening Post myself).

Here’s my message:

As a lifelong Prestonian I am proud to be your UKIP candidate. I am passionate about my home city and believe in its bright future in an independent Britain.

Your vote in Preston will not decide who runs the country, but it can make a difference locally. As your MP I will stand up for the things that matter to the people of Preston: not just a successful Brexit, but also better schools, improved health and social care, a secure economy, a stronger community.

That’s why I’m standing for Preston, and that’s why I ask you to vote for me.

You can read the full article on the LEP website.