Meet your Norwich South election candidates

Did you know there’s an election coming up?


Norwich South is one of the most closely fought seats in the country.

While you may just have thrown all those leaflets you keep getting through your door straight into the bin, each candidate is proposing policies which can have large impacts on student life. Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know.

Clive Lewis – Labour

Labour’s Clive Lewis is hoping to bring a bit of  “Milifandom” to UEA.

Having narrowly lost the 2010 election by under 1 per cent, Clive is hoping that this time he’s done enough work to win the seat.

He’s promising to remove zero-hour contracts and ensure the amount students pay back after graduating is based on their job.

The Labour candidate is also looking to cut bus and rail fares in Norwich, as well as increasing local authority control over landlords giving students an unfair deal.

The Electoral Calculus predict Labour has a 68 per cent chance of winning the seat.

Lesley Grahame – Green Party

Ex-UEA student Lesley Grahame wants to bring some of the Green Party’s environment-loving spirit to Norwich.

Lesley studied International Development then nursing at UEA, going on to become a district nurse in Norwich for over 30 years.

Lesley’s main aim is to turn Norwich into a centre of green jobs while developing the parks and rivers to make the city more environmentally-friendly.

In a more radical step, her party also promises to scrap tuition fees altogether because “education is a right, not a privilege”.

The Greens also aim to raise the minimum wage to £10 per hour by 2020.

Having come fourth in the 2010 election, we predict the Green Party will be doing much better this year as voters look to break away from the old traditional parties.

It’s thought the Greens could win 22.3 per cent of votes in May, 3 per cent more than the Conservatives.

Simon Wright – Liberal Democrats

Yeah, remember them?

Thanks to Nick Clegg’s promise to cut tuition fees in 2010, the Liberal Democrats did well in areas with a high student electorate including Norwich South.

Simon Wright is Norwich South’s current MP, and is hoping to hold onto the seat this year.

With his party’s U-turn on the tuition fees cut, which Simon stresses he voted against in Parliament, he knows winning the same level of votes as he did five years ago will be tough.

He aims to reduce the cost of student living with discounted bus passes for 16 – 21 year olds and an outlaw on “Revenge Evictions” which see landlords remove tenants because they ask for improvements.

The Electoral Calculus give Simon a measly 3 per cent chance of winning.

Lisa Townsend – Conservatives

Lisa and the Conservatives have a 16 per cent chance of winning, but are still expected to lose votes compared to 2010. Lisa didn’t run in 2010, and is hoping to bring a breath of fresh air to dusty old politics.

Lisa promises to encourage stronger bonds between the university and local residents, creating both a more positive attitude towards students.

She also promises to improve rail lines between London and Norwich, making it possible to get there and back in just 90 minutes, making your holiday getaways much more bearable.

Steve Emmens – UKIP

With UEA’s multiculturalism bringing little hope of rallying support for the traditional policies of UKIP, UKIP have a 0 per cent chance of winning the South Norwich seat.

Steve has said his party plans to scrap tuition fees, but only for what he calls “core subjects” like Maths and Sciences. So if you do a “core subject”, lucky you!

Taking a more classical UKIP approach to housing, Steve Emmens said in a recent interview he would help local people looking for housing by setting them as a priority above immigrants who are “pushing people off the housing ladder”.

Like the Conservatives, Steve also said UKIP would prioritise the Norwich to London line by scrapping the government’s HS2 plan, which would help students commuting to and from London.

Dave Peel – Class War

Dave Peel and Class War are bringing radical politics to Norwich. The party’s main aim is to: “Stop austerity. Bring down Capitalism. Fuck their shit up” (his words, not mine…)

Voting for Class War may be an option for voters wanting to unleash their inner rogue Russell Brand. If elected, Dave promises to “make my maiden speech in Parliament, then grab the ceremonial Mace and head towards Iain Duncan Smith”.

The party also plans to double the dole and double pensions, vowing to fund this by abolishing the monarchy.

Dave also attacks Labour and Clive Lewis: “Class War is standing to smash this disgusting arrogance and complacency, which has infected all the major mainstream parties”.

Dave intends to invest two thirds of MP salaries into Norwich community projects.

For Class War party politics is more about the demonstration and the protest, not the power and the seats.

He realises he isn’t likely to win many of the votes this year, saying you should vote for Class War if you want to show you are sick of traditional politics and want a revolution.

Cengiz Ceker – Independent

So erm, we can’t find anything about this guy. So if you vote for him, who knows what you’ll be getting?!