Prospective Parliamentary Candidates Health April 2015 29 April 2015 • 1 General Election 2015: Health Introduction The 2010 General Election saw an unprecedented turnover of MPs, with 227 new Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the House of Commons. While it is not expected this election will produce anywhere near the same number of new MPs, the prospect of over one hundred new parliamentarians means the House of Commons in 2015 will be markedly different from its current make- up. Health policy has dominated this Parliament. The Health and Social Care Act, which was passed in 2012, has proven to be one of the most controversial healthcare reforms in a generation. The Labour party has chosen to campaign on the NHS at the forefront of their bid for 10 Downing Street on 7th May, which has led to some of the most heated exchanges so far, with accusations and counter accusations of “privatising” or “weaponising” the NHS. Over the past few months, Political Intelligence has undertaken detailed research into parliamentary candidates in order to build an authoritative briefing on the likely future make-up of the Commons. This briefing details candidates with a demonstrable interest in, and experience of, the health sector and health policy. They range from those in safe-seats, to those who have an outside chance. But their experience before Parliament, if elected, may well help shape the health debate over the course of the next five years. 29 April 2015 • 2 The Class of 2015 The candidates listed below are those in either marginal or already safe seats, and therefore have a high likelihood of being elected on the 7th May; Mike O’Brien Party: Labour Constituency: North Warwickshire Incumbent MP: Dan Byles (Conservative) Majority: 54 Background: O’Brien unexpectedly lost the North Warwickshire seat at the last election when he lost to Dan Byles, the Conservative candidate, by a wafer thin margin of 54 votes. Byles. He has since signalled his intention to stand down at the election. Fighting the third-most marginal seat in the country O’Brien is almost certain to be elected. He was a former Health Minister in the last Labour government and was responsible for taking through administrative reforms of the NHS in two Acts of Parliament. He also negotiated a settlement of compensation for the victims of Thalidomide, and introduced priority NHS treatment for former service personnel injured in the line of duty. Nusrat Ghani Party: Conservative Constituency: Wealden Incumbent MP: Charles Hendry (Conservative) Majority: 17,179 Background: Ghani is fighting the ultra-safe Conservative seat of Wealden in Sussex, having been selected via an open primary in 2013. She had previously made the final shortlists in two other seats; Mid Worcestershire and Croydon South. 29 April 2015 • 3 Ghani has held a number of high profile roles in the public affairs industry, having worked for the BBC World Service, and managing health policy at Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Age Concern. Karin Smyth Party: Labour Constituency: Bristol South Incumbent MP: Dawn Primarolo (Labour) Majority: 4,734 Background: Smyth is currently a manager with the NHS Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group she also served as the non-executive Director of Bristol NHS Primary Care Trust between 2002 and 2006, where she was part of the Bristol Health Service Plan project that delivered the South Bristol Community Hospital. In between her career within the NHS, Smyth set up the office of Valerie Davey in Bristol West in 1997, as well as becoming her election agent. She is a previous Trustee of the Bristol Deaf Centre. Vicky Foxcroft Party: Labour Constituency: Lewisham Deptford Incumbent MP: Joan Ruddock (Labour) Existing majority: 12,499 Background: Foxcroft has had something of a stereotypical career path to becoming a Member of Parliament. A former Chair of Labour Students who held a seat on the National Policy Forum before becoming a councillor in Lewisham, Foxcroft has worked for the UNITE union since 2002 before winning selection to a safe Labour seat. She has a strong record of campaigning on local Lewisham issues, including the recent – and high profile - campaign to Save Lewisham Hospital. She has welcomed the Labour promise to increase NHS funding, and stated how important it will be for the local health services in Lewisham Deptford. 29 April 2015 • 4 Tim Brett Party: Liberal Democrat Constituency: North East Fife Incumbent MP: Menzies Campbell (Liberal Democrat) Majority: 9,048 Background: On paper, Brett should be a shoo-in to be elected on 7th May. Selected in March 2014 to succeed former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, who is standing down after 28 years as the constituency’s MP, Brett has the largest Scottish Liberal Democrat majority to defend. The key caveat is that the Liberal Democrats are facing a tough battle nationally, no more so than in Scotland where they face near wipe-out in the face of a rampant SNP. Brett has held senior management positions in the NHS in Scotland; including Chief Executive of Ninewells Teaching Hospital in Dundee and was Director of Health Protection Scotland. He was a member of the Ministerial Advisory group from 2007-2012 on Health and Social Care – which developed the plans for “Reshaping Care for Older People in Scotland”. Julie Pörksen Party: Liberal Democrats Constituency: Berwick-upon-Tweed Incumbent MP: Alan Beith (Liberal Democrat) Existing majority: 2,690 Background: Pörksen faces the same challenge, albeit with a smaller majority, than her colleague Brett in the Northumberland seat of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The previous Lib Dem MP, Sir Alan Beith, held the seat since 1973 – the longest serving Liberal Democrat in Parliament. But with his name- recognition and personal vote gone at the next election, Pörksen faces a tough election. She spent over five years at Marie Stopes International, a non-governmental organisation that provides reproductive and sexual health services through the NHS. Prior to that she spent two and a half years at polling company Ipsos Mori, as well as stints in Aberdeen and Peru, and now works for a charity promoting peace in the Middle East. 29 April 2015 • 5 The Class of 2015: Best of the Rest These candidates are those fighting seats where they face an incumbent opposition with either a small or sizeable majority to overcome. Peter Lowe Party: Labour Constituency: Stourbridge Incumbent MP: Margot James (Conservative) Majority: 5,164 Background: Lowe is a registered General Nurse, working as a Staff Nurse in Stroke Rehabilitation and as a Charge Nurse in Acute Medical Admissions. A passionate supporter of the NHS he worked at UNISON for the past 13 years on behalf of hospital workers and campaigning for local hospital services. He currently works as a National Officer for Managers in Partnership, a trade union specifically for managers in the health sector. Lowe was elected leader of Dudley Council in December 2014, with Labour currently holding 42 out of the 72 seats on the Council, and he secured the backing of UNITE the union during his selection, which caused controversy locally. The Conservative candidate, Margot James, won in 2010 with a healthy majority of just over five thousand and previously served on the Board of Parkside NHS Trust and worked as a mental health manager. It is a traditional two-party seat and is designated Labour’s eightieth target seat – making Lowe’s entry to the Commons an outside bet at present. Nancy Platts Party: Labour Constituency: Brighton Kemptown Incumbent MP: Simon Kirby (Conservative) Majority: 1,328 Background: Platts’ background is as a health campaigner. She has previously worked for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Asthma UK and Diabetes UK, as well as for the National Childbirth Trust and Maternity Alliance where she lobbied ministers for improved parental leave and better maternity services for all, especially disadvantaged groups. She has also acted as campaigns and communications consultant to various charities including the National Childbirth Trust and Child Poverty Action Group. 29 April 2015 • 6 She stood in 2010 in the neighbouring seat of Brighton Pavilion, losing to the first Green MP, Caroline Lucas. Lee Sherriff Party: Labour Constituency: Carlisle Incumbent MP: John Stevenson (Conservative) Existing majority: 853 Background: Sherriff is a support worker for a mental health charity, and, until recently, had three different jobs in that field while working both as a councillor and a parliamentary candidate. She campaigned for Labour’s ‘Back the Bill’ proposal which attempted to remove a clause in the Health and Social Care Act that allowed private sector providers to pitch for NHS contracts. She has also supported Douglas Alexander’s, Labour’s election co-ordinator, call that the “NHS cannot survive another five years of a Tory government”. If elected she would be Cumbrian’s first woman MP. Her sister, Paula Sherriff, is standing for election in the Dewsbury parliamentary constituency – seeking to overturn a mere 1,526 majority – and having also worked in the NHS in victim support. If both elected, they would join the Milibands and Eagles as siblings on the Labour benches. Dr Amanjit Jhund Party: Labour Constituency: East Dunbartonshire Incumbent MP: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat) Existing majority: 2,184 Background: Selected in controversial circumstances for Labour’s top target in Scotland, Jhund will be fighting against Jo Swinson – a high profile Liberal Democrat and former Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Jhund qualified as a doctor in 2004 and was subsequently accepted to study Hepatology at Harvard Medical School. He worked for the NHS for eight years before working as a specialist at Mckinsey, who were procured by the coalition government to draw up and then implement the 2012 Health and Social Care Act.