Epsom and Ewell Times is publishing the appeals of the Parliamentary Candidates standing in the General Election for the constituency of Epsom and Ewell. This is the appeal for Mark Todd the Labour Party candidate.

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Mark Todd has lived with his family in Epsom for the last fifteen years. He runs and cycles locally, so he knows how bad the roads are, you’ll often see him at Nonsuch parkrun on a Saturday running or volunteering, or at the Wells Centre helping out.

He has committed to not take a second job if he is elected as MP; instead concentrating all his time on the people, businesses and charities of Epsom, Ewell, Ashtead and Leatherhead. So, you’ll get a full time MP with Mark not a part time one as previously.

Mark’s very active locally and as your MP he will fight to:

FIX OUR BROKEN ROADS:
The Lib Dem Tory coalition slashed Surrey’s road budgets to unsustainable levels. Our roads are broken and dangerous. Mark has successfully fought to get some of the worst repaired. He will call for extra funds for the constituency and demand Surrey County Council up their game.

REDUCE SEWAGE IN LOCAL RIVERS:
Mark led a cross-party group demanding Thames Water stop dumping sewage into the Hogsmill, our local stream. Having gained support from Feargal Sharkey, Thames Water met with Mark and have promised to reduce sewage overflows into the Hogsmill by 80% by 2030. Mark will continue the fight in Parliament.

MORE NOT LESS COMMUNITY FACILITIES:
Community centres and youth centres are being cut across the country. Mark is a trustee of The Epsom Wells Community Centre which Epsom & Ewell council shut and wanted to demolish. As Treasurer, he wrote the business plan with other trustees that convinced the Council to give the centre, now re-opened, back to the community.

MORE HOMES WHILE DEFENDING THE GREEN BELT:
We need more homes, but most people want to keep our green belt. Mark is a strong supporter of preserving our green spaces and green belt. Labour plan to build more homes, particularly smaller affordable units, on brownfield sites and in New Towns to provide homes while saving the green belt.

BETTER SCHOOLS & HOSPITALS:
The NHS is on its knees and waits are enormous. Labour has committed to rebuilding our local hospitals at St. Helier and Epsom, if elected. Labour also have a fully costed plan to improve the NHS and state schools by providing 17,500 more doctors and nurses, more weekend clinics, 6,500 more teachers and free breakfast clubs for primary school children so parents can get to work.

RE-TAKE OUR STREETS:
Crime is almost decriminalised under the Conservatives with the Police and Court systems so inefficient. Anti-social behaviour and shoplifting is rife, and many women don’t feel safe to walk the streets. Labour will provide 13,000 more police officers and reform the criminal justice system so that more crimes are solved, and criminals punished.

REALLY TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE:
Labour will take the climate crisis seriously. Labour will work with the private sector to double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind by 2030. We will invest in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and marine energy, and ensure we have the long-term energy storage our country needs. These measures will reduce carbon but also reduce bills.

ABOUT MARK:
 Graduated in Politics and Economics at Oxford University and also has a Master’s degree from Birmingham University
 co-founded one of the UK’s largest energy price comparison companies at 28 years old that, recommended by Martin Lewis, and powering comparethemarket’s energy service, it organised 10
million energy switches and employed 350 people.
 a leading voice in energy, he campaigned tirelessly to ban rip off energy tariffs and was successful convincing Amber Rudd and her civil servants to bring in the energy price cap in 2018.
 after the election, win or lose, Mark will be part of the All-Party Group on Energy Costs at Parliament as one of the UK’s leading experts in energy.
 given Mark’s very strong academic and business background, and his strong work ethic, he is perfectly placed to make a big impact in Parliament for our local area and for the whole of the UK.
 A Labour MP would be a great fit for the area as we really need our public services to improve in Epsom and Ewell.

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The other candidates:

Conservative who promises to serve “with integrity”

Lib Dems’ Helen Maguire – “Getting Things Done”

The Green promises

Reform candidate for Epsom and Ewell

A True and Fair view of the world

Mark Todd lives in Epsom and is the Chair of the local Labour Party. He contested the new ward of Horton at the 4th May Epsom and Ewell Borough Council elections. He is an active cyclist and member of the local tree board.

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Unfortunately, Britain seems to be stuck in a whole series of crises at the moment: a cost of living crisis, an economic crisis, an NHS crisis, a care crisis, a public sector wage crisis, a housing crisis, and a climate crisis.

We’re in a Tory perma-crisis and no wonder it’s so tough!

It’s not surprising that public services start to fail after a decade of Tory under investment. If you starve state schools and the NHS of money for 5 years, the results are not good; but they are not disastrous. If you starve them for over ten years, well the chickens really come home to roost.

Labour handed over to the Tories the best public health service in the World in 2010. Now we have over seven million unfortunate souls on waiting lists and people who have paid into the system all their lives are left in terrible pain waiting for essential procedures.

In education our schools are crumbling, and teachers struggle to provide pupils with a good education as they are spread too thin. Care services can be appalling with older people left neglected at their time of greatest need.

A Labour Government would get more money into these services, and they would implement common sense reforms to improve them too.

Sewage in our Streams: The Conservatives’ privatisation of many public services has been a disaster; but none has been so disastrous as water. They created a system whereby foreign vulture capitalists moved in and minimised the investment they put into the companies and maximised the money they took out.

I complained direct to the Head of Thames Water about the terrible pollution of the Hogsmill and other local streams last year into which Thames Water regularly overflow sewage. Myself and other local Labour leaders met with senior managers from Thames Water in October. It was clear on touring the facilities and looking at their investment plans that Epsom and Ewell’s sewage system struggles as most of the infrastructure is from the 1960s and cannot cope with current volumes. They equally have no clear costed plan of how to fix it.

A massive problem is that in many parts of the borough, the rainwater drainage and sewage systems are mixed. So, in times of heavy rainfall, this mixed waste tends to end up in the Hogsmill and Green Lanes Stream. Separating out the systems, as they should be, would be the best way to stop this. Then rainwater could go into local streams maintaining the flow and wildlife, and sewage could go to the sewage station.

But, it’s costly to make the system right and despite all the extra money Thames Water get from the increase in local population, it’s not something they currently want to do.
It is only through much tougher regulation from a Labour Government that Thames Water will be forced to invest to fix the system.

A Burning Planet: The Conservatives policies on climate change are too little, too late. We need a green revolution in Britain not tinkering around the edges.

That’s why Labour are offering a bold plan to:

a) Make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030
b) Set up GB Energy, a publicly owned energy company to generate huge amounts
of renewable electricity
c) Insulate 19 million homes over a decade bringing down people’s energy bills and meaning that we use less energy too

Don’t mention the B word: And, of course, there is the B word. Labour believes that the current Hard Brexit is not working. Trade is struggling and living standards are declining. Labour will re-open negotiations to get the country a better deal. The Labour leadership believe it is possible to make significant improvements.

I attended a conference in London at which the Vice President of the European Parliament, Pedro Silva Perreira, talked. He said that only a Labour Government can really improve Britain’s trade relations with Europe. The Conservatives, he continued, have been so antagonistic to the EU and Boris Johnson had told so many lies about them that there was no good will in the negotiations. With a Labour Government that would be so different.

Bringing us all together: While the Labour Party is more cautious now, we still offer some bold policies that can turn around the nation. We hope that under Keir Starmer we can bring together enough of the nation to make a real difference.

I’m sure a Labour Government would make a massive difference to Epsom and Ewell; and it would be the start of a much-needed transition to a fairer, greener, happier society.

As explained when launching our View from Westminster feature the Epsom and Ewell Times will occasionally carry viewpoints from the other parties. Here is Mark Todd, Labour’s local Parliamentary spokesperson’s first contribution.

After Two Months of In-Fighting, Now It’s Time for Action

Today Liz Truss has been elected as the leader of the Conservatives and hence Prime Minister.  Elected as the leader of this country by just 0.3 % of the population. Truss now needs to move quickly from her jingoistic hard right policies aimed at getting votes from Conservative Party hardliners to policies that will help her citizens.   

The UK is in turmoil and people are petrified about the winter ahead. They are also at a loss to understand the lack of leadership by the government during the two month leadership contest. 

With energy bills skyrocketing, the NHS in crisis due to a lack of staffing, resources and the collapse in social care; the climate crisis deepening by the day, poo-luted rivers and beaches, and a cost of living crisis so bad that many can no longer afford the basics in life: food to eat and heat and light for their homes.

Boris Johnson was allowed to remain as Prime Minister and how did this help the country? He partied at Chequers, posed in various publicity shoots and went on holiday after holiday. 

In fact, this Summer has been the perfect summation of his disastrous premiership. It has shown how much his time in charge has actually been about him and Carrie getting what they want, not the country. 

And, at the same time, most of Mr. Johnson’s Cabinet have been missing in action; either off on holiday or trying to ingratiate themselves with Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak to secure a job going forward. 

One incident that I particularly noted was on the 7th August when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the government to act on the energy crisis on Radio 4’s Today programme. The Conservative minister’s response was hollow, talking about why Rishi Sunak was the best candidate for leader, not what the Government would do now to tackle the crisis.  

Tribalism and party self-interest have been the priority. 

The new Prime Minister and Cabinet need to decide rapidly how they stop people falling into terrible poverty.

They need to do it now, not next week, not tomorrow, now!!! 

5th September 2022