The Bradley Stoke Journal

With an announcement of the date of the General Election seemingly just days away, The Journal takes a look at how the main political parties have been building up their campaigns in the fight for the new Filton and Bradley Stoke (FABS) constituency.

The last few days have seen the first election leaflets dropping on doormats in Bradley Stoke. In case they haven’t reached your street yet, here’s a quick summary of what the main candidates have to say:

Edition 5 of Labour’s FaBs News sees candidate Ian Boulton promising to support local businesses and jobs. There is criticism of “Tory plans to cut child tax credits” and praise for Labour’s record on policing (“crime down by a third since 1997″).

Mr Boulton has nothing specific to say about Bradley Stoke but tells readers of his work on a regeneration project in Staple Hill and his position as a governor of Patchway Community College.

Conservative candidate Jack Lopresti’s newspaper, “delivered and produced at no cost to the taxpayer”, contains mostly articles on national issues such as “controlling immigration”, “help for working families” and “supporting pensioners”.

Mr Lopresti praises South Gloucestershire Council for “pushing through the lowest council tax rise ever” and welcomes “record investment” in repairing the district’s roads.

At a local level, Mr Lopresti is pictured at the Willow Brook Centre selling poppies for the British Legion.

The Liberal Democrats’ Focus paper is fronted by their FABS candidate Peter Tyzack, standing beside his “newly decorated car” at the Willow Brook Centre.

The bulk of the paper concerns itself with Town Council issues (youth work, health provision and road safety) but there are also mentions of national “policy points” – plans to bring empty homes back into use and raising the threshold at which income tax becomes payable.

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The British National Party (BNP) has announced that it is to contest the Filton and Bradley Stoke (FABS) parliamentary seat at the upcoming General Election.

The news, which the BNP claims will “shock the party’s opponents”, was revealed in a posting on the far-right party’s website on Saturday (13th March).

The article names “lifelong Bristol resident” David Scott as the party’s prospective candidate for FABS.

Mr Scott is said to have seen active service with the local County Infantry Regiment and his children “have all attended South Gloucestershire Schools”.

Other minority parties to have recently announced prospective candidates for FABS are The Green Party with Lon Lucas, and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) with Neil Dowdney.

The campaigns of the main party candidates have so far had little visibility in Bradley Stoke, with as yet no party leaflets arriving at Journal HQ and no presence at events held in the town. If we have missed something, please leave a comment to let us know!

Ian Boulton (Labour) has been the most active candidate in the online media, with regular updates on Twitter and, since yesterday, a video entitled “Local Roots, Local Knowledge” on YouTube.

The Liberal Democrats have renamed their local party website the “Peter Tyzack” site, where the latest article promises smaller class sizes for South Gloucestershire schools. Elsewhere, Mr Tyzack has been critical of South Gloucestershire Council, which he says hasn’t cleared rubbish from the Gloucester Road (A38) in Patchway since the Conservatives took control in 2007.

The Conservative’s Jack Lopresti, hot favorite for the FABS seat, prefers to boast about the achievements of South Gloucestershire Council on his personal website – with articles about cuts in bus funding imposed by the Labour government and the district’s recently announced “lowest ever” Council Tax rise.

More info: 2010 General Election in Filton and Badley Stoke

Over 130 sixth form students at Patchway Community College took local politicians to task on Friday (12th February) over issues facing the country in the next General Election.

In a tutorial session earlier in the week students had discussed key issues of particular interest to them and prepared some questions that were put forward to prospective parliamentary candidates from the three main political parties.

Taking part in the session were (pictured L-R, centre of photo): Jack Lopresti (Conservative), Ian Boulton (Labour) and Peter Tyzack (Liberal Democrat) – all prospective candidates for the new Filton and Bradley Stoke parliamentary constituency.

Questions from the students were very diverse, including university and tuition fees, the health system, Afghanistan, and immigration.

Afterwards, the students were divided at random into five groups to represent each of five political parties. They carried out further research on the web so they could create a campaign and select student candidates in preparation for a mock election in the afternoon.

Head of Sixth Form Ian Trevarthen said:

“This day represented a superb opportunity to raise our students’ awareness of political issues at both local and national level.”

“The students were full of enthusiasm throughout the day, and welcomed the chance to hear first-hand answers to their questions.”

“We were very impressed with the student party leaders who delivered confident and well-informed presentations to their peers.”

Winner of the mock election was Lewis Gregor, aged 18, representing the Conservative Party, who received 30% of the votes cast.

Related links:

• Filton and Bradley Stoke – General Election 2010 (The Journal)
• Schools serving Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Bradley Stoke is likely to represented by a Conservative MP after this year’s General Election if odds recently published by Ladbrokes prove accurate.

The bookmaker has installed the Conservative candidate for the new parliamentary constituency of Filton and Bradley Stoke as the 1/6 favourite.

The Liberal Democrats are second in the betting at 6/1, followed by Labour at 10/1.

Bradley Stoke is currently covered by the two parliamentary constituencies of Bristol North West, represented by Doug Naysmith (Labour Co-operative), and Northavon, represented by Steve Webb (Liberal Democrat).

Boundary changes which come into effect at the General Election put the whole of the town in the new constituency of Filton and Bradley Stoke, which also includes Almondsbury, Downend, Patchway, Pilning, Severn Beach, Staple Hill, Stoke Gifford and Winterbourne.

The prospective candidates of the three main parties are:

• Ian Boulton (Labour)
• Jack Lopresti (Conservative)
• Peter Tyzack (Liberal Democrat)

Related links:

• Filton and Bradley Stoke – General Election 2010 (The Journal)
• Constituency Betting Odds (Ladbrokes)

South Gloucestershire councillor Peter Tyzack has been chosen as the Liberal Democrat’s candidate for the new Filton and Bradley Stoke (FABS) parliamentary constituency at next year’s general election.

Cllr Tyzack becomes the third Liberal Democrat to be nominated to fight the seat after the resignations of two previous candidates.

Emma Bone quit “for family reasons” in 2008, while John Kiely stepped down earlier this year saying that he need to give priority to his work on Bristol City Council.

Cllr Tyzack, who represents Pilning and Severn Beach on the district council, has stood for parliament on two previous occasions.

In 1997 he fought the Bristol East seat, where he finished in third place with 14.8% of the vote. More recently, he contested the Bristol North West seat in 2001, finishing with 15.9% of the vote behind runaway winner Doug Naysmith.

In a press release issued by Filton and Bradley Stoke Liberal Democrats, Cllr Tyzack says:

“I am honoured to have been chosen by the Party to represent the people in this new constituency for the next general election. I would like to say thank you for the support that I have already received and the further encouragement since my selection especially from Steve Webb MP.”

“What I would like to do is to offer a real alternative for the people of this new constituency. With just over five months left to run to the general election, FABS is a rare opportunity for us. Local by-election results across the country show a significant move towards the Liberal Democrats, so we should be optimistic.”

Cllr Tyzack has served on South Gloucestershire Council and the previous Northavon District Council since 1994. As a qualified teacher he taught at three Bristol secondary schools before leaving the profession to set up an independent property business and also a small building company.

The new Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency is formed exclusively of wards from the district of South Gloucestershire. The wards that it incorporates previously belonged to the Bristol North West, Northavon and Kingswood constituencies.

Independent website ukpollingreport classifies Filton and Bradley Stoke as a marginal seat but predicts that it will be won by the Conservatives with 35.7% of the vote, followed by Labour on 32.8% and the Liberal Democrats on 27.2%.

Related link:

• Filton and Bradley Stoke – General Election 2010 (The Journal)