A Little Bit of Stone asked your General Election candidates 20 questions – here are their responses.
The deadline for candidate nominations for the 2024 General Election passed at 4pm tonight. In the newly created Stone, Great Wryley and Penkridge seat, we have 6 nominations, and 1 previously reported candidate has now withdrawn.
A couple of days ago, we sent your questions to all known candidates, asking for them to be completed by 5pm this evening so they could be shared with our audience. The UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate was only first made known to us when the nominations were published at 5pm so we will be sending out the questionnaire to them this evening and will update in line with the other candidate profiles.
Stone, Great Wryley and Penkridge Candidates:
In alphabetical order, by surname and then first name, the candidates are:
- Danni Braine (Green Party) – Click to view Danni’s Candidate Profile
- Alexander Bramham (Social Democratic Party) – Click to view Alexander’s Candidate Profile
- Jacqueline Brown (Labour) – Click to view Jacqueline’s Candidate Profile
- Sam Harper-Wallis (Liberal Democrats) – Click to view Sam’s Candidate Profile
- Janice Mackay (UK Independence Party) – Questionnaire to be sent, see above for details
- Tom Wellings (Reform UK) – The candidate has withdrawn their nomination
- Gavin Williamson (Conservative) – No response received to our candidate profile questionnaire
We will be updating our dedicated website https://stones.vote with more details as soon as possible – including our General Election husting that will be happening on the 19th June.
6 comments
The Wards
At the count on Friday, I confirmed from a representative of the electoral department at SS Council that Mackay’s very peculiar 300 miles distant, out of the blue entry was not submitted at the last minute “somehow” taking advantage of Wellings’ declaration as had been widely speculated.
Instead was made by her Election Agent, the former county councillor Stephen Hollis, also her Proposer shortly after nominations opened!
U.K.I.P. has fewer than two dozen candidates nationally, all the others local to their constituencies. What it did here stands out like a sore thumb.
All this can only means that he or they had foreknowledge of Wellings’ then-secret plot, which affair is presently being investigated by The Electoral Commission, the Acting Returning Officer and has been referred to Staffordshire Police.
The U.K.I.P. election agent and/or candidate could be seen as accessories in this sordid and corrupt matter, which smacks of sharp practice if not outright deception or electoral fraud.
I call on Hollis, who was seen off in May 2023, him finishing sixth, when he ceased to be Councillor for Cheslyn Hay, Essington and Great Wyrley, to speak the truth and own up to his role, and face the music. Why didn’t he stand himself, he is local? Is the reason – FEAR??
Peter Ward
Any one voting for UKIP mustn’t have heard of google. Thomas, are you nuts? You want Stone to become a hive of fascist extremists, drug-dealers, convicted rogue builders, football hooligans, confidence tricksters, fraudsters?? I do not.
Joe Stripp
Dirty tricks by the Tories?
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/reform-chairman-furious-at-candidate-pulling-out-at-last-minute/ar-BB1nS75L?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=88bbdeaca12c43d6871f7e5a21efe2c7&ei=7
Strange Old World
Emerging from the Crypt at the last moment, a party which exists for one man to scoop up legacies while generating just enough activity to convince courts that it’s still in politics.
Its boasting of thriving membership makes one wonder why it couldn’t find a candidate who lived rather closer than 300 miles from Stone.
Thomas Hughes
To all people who intended to vote Reform UK we have obviously been the victims of a stitch up by the conservative party.The last minute withdrawal of the Reform candidate was was almost certainly planned.l believe in light of this we should make a protest vote do not abstain or vote conservative but vote for Janice Mackay the UKIP candidate she has no chance of winning but it would send a message to the conservative party that we won’t get away with cheating.
Strange Old World
I agree, Wellings’ betrayal is unforgivable!
Please discuss the matter with David Shillingford, another who knows that Wellings had been plotting this betrayal for a month, if not longer. It was not a last-minute decision by him but long-planned treachery.
But your advice to vote for the UKIP candidate is ill-considered.
You can’t be aware that UKIP, desperate to hurt Reform because Nigel Farage and Richard Tice wisely shunned UKIP and ignored all its overtures, HAS ENTERED A CANDIDATE TO STAND AGAINST NIGEL IN CLACTON and split the vote. Shameless!
Worse, I suspect UKIP were alerted to Wellings’ plot, otherwise how would they have been able to enter a candidate, from far away, at the very last moment? The news of Wellings’ withdrawal didn’t appear online until it was too late. Somehow or other UKIP knew this earlier and then exploited it to damage Reform further.
Your advice would reward this treachery, please withdraw it! Either spoil the ballot or if you don’t mind the lefty economics, give it to the SDP.