North Northumberland election candidate Michael Joyce on immigration, environment and the NHS

I served in the Army for 22 years and was medically discharged in 2011 whilst still doing assignments in the Gulf (Iraq OP-Telic 13).

I am a long believer of honesty, integrity and given people a full picture of things.

The reason I am standing is to give something back to the local community where I live which is Hadston. I am also an Amble town councillor,

Green policies

The harmful way any government in power is dealing with this is unacceptable. We are building new homes yet none of which have solar panels on them. We should be tapping in our rivers and seas to generate power. As for the pollution we need to hold these companies accountable they have made billions in the last few years, we need to act now and not later on.

Immigration

We need people to come and work here because of the English population are not willing to work due to the fact we have a benefit culture. I also believe that you could sponsor these immigrants. That would take the burden off the tax payers. As for the illegal immigrations, we need a strong deterrent. Common sense tells me that by hitting these gangs you will not solve the problem, due to the fact that Europe have an open door policy. These gangs are everywhere – you may get one but another two will pop up. We spend 3.2 billion a year on these people, that money could be used here for our people. So, yes, would I send them back to a safe country? I would.

Environment

When I was based in Germany the way that recycling was done was effective like bottle bins. Supermarkets allowing you to return the plastic bottle back and getting a reward is a great idea. We do need to look at the carbon footprint, if we start new projects to help our country then other countries will follow suit. I am a big believer in solar power, hydro, thermal and tidal power. We seem to be at least 10 years behind everyone else why because government drag their feet about these issues.

Investment

If we started investing in these areas we can create jobs. Jobs mean taxes, taxes mean investment.

NHS

It’s not just about the last 14 years of the Conservatives but also what Labour did. Labour was the main party to start privatisation of the NHS using PFI funding route. The creations of trusts and foundation trusts was a big mistake. Most of the money going into the NHS is paying the CEO and the share holders and not the doctors or nurses. When a trust fails to give care to the patients they should be held to account. If patients have died they should be prosecuted for industrial manslaughter. This would make them follow their own correct procedures.