INTRODUCING JAMES

About Me

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I have lived and worked in Southend all my life.  My education was difficult after attending what was then known as Thorpe Bay High, but I did eventually go to university as a mature student achieving a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). 

 

I have worked in my family business for almost 30 years and have learnt so much in all aspects of life.  With humility, I have been lucky enough to understand how success is achieved.  I grew up on social benefits through circumstances that couldn't be helped and that has never left me, and as someone who has been lucky enough to have the chances that I did in the end, I seek to give back to our city. 

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As a Southend boy, born and bred, I am super-keen to pour any experience and knowledge I have into our city. 

 

I stand representing the Southend Resident’s Party, which is devoted to a true local voice on the national stage. 

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My Politics

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My politics is be as successful as your drive takes you, but pay your fair share, and that fair share be spent without corruption, waste or incompetence.  What that fair share is exactly, is dependent on the needs of the time.  But lower tax generally enables a good business environment which in-turn creates the jobs and disposable income needed to pay for the excellent public services we all want.

 

I believe in people being free to make their own choices, but we should try to be as respectful to each other as we can. 

 

I am completely sold on local people making the decisions rather than instructions coming from London by people who have never been to Southend.  What could they possibly know that would trump our experience of living here? 

 

I believe in real democracy, which means asking people their opinions and finding the truth together.  Most people agree on most things most of the time and working together in partnership really is possible if done in the right way.

 

I believe in an ideal version of the future.  I want to know where we are heading, but I want to know if that place is somewhere I want to go.  For the Southend Confelicity Party, this is creating an environment where we can all fulfil our potential for the betterment of ourselves and our city.  It means working backwards from where we agree we want to be in all areas.

 

 

Priority issues for Southend 

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• Inspiring Southend residents to start their own businesses, applying their skills and knowledge to creating a city full of innovation and entrepreneurship to revitalise jobs and wealth creation. The council’s acquisition of Victoria Shopping Centre and Southend’s potential expansion of its high street markets present brilliant opportunities for low cost start-ups. 

 

• Fighting against over-development due to lack of infrastructure and services and its encroachment onto our ever decreasing green spaces. Affordable housing on brownfield sites for locals - yes, but it is now time to acknowledge that we are getting close to full. 

 

• Expanding capacity in Southend Hospital; fighting against current plans to transfer services to Basildon or Chelmsford; and valuing our health care workers properly. They are under-valued and under-paid, and that is a reflection on the value we have passively accepted for ourselves over many decades. 

 

• City-wide mass promotion of the Special Constable scheme to recruit hundreds into the local police. There are many hot-spots that require constant presence, and this is a sure-fire way of ensuring it can be resourced. No excuses about funding - just Southend residents putting themselves forward in the name of the city!

 

• Promoting financial transparency so we can see where all our money has gone. The technology already exists, it is just a question of access to the information. We are paying the most tax we ever have and we can’t even turn on our street lights to max, cut our grass more than once a year, fix our our pot holes and pavements, and get our bins emptied more than once a week! We are a rich nation, albeit with a £2.5 trillion debt(!), but something is going very wrong at the top. It is time for us all to find out what is going wrong. 

 

• Rid Southend’s sea of sewage by starting conversations with Anglian Water and the government to explore how we go about building a brand new sewage system fit for purpose. As it is, the current system is designed to allow sewage into our waters otherwise it would go into our homes and businesses during high rainfall. Southend should be built upon the water with Olympians showing off their prowess to the world! Instead, we lead the way in paddling and stone skimming!

 

• Ensure Southend United survives. With the brilliant consortium and devoted fans, the future is ready to be taken. We just need the right political decisions to taken to move this over the line. The previous owner must change his outrageous red-lines and get the deal done. 

 

• Inspire civic pride! We need to tell our own story, and one that will inspire the next generation to perform great feats for our city. I am reading the story of Eric Kirkham Cole of EKCO, and what a visionary he was employing 7,000 people and building tech for the world! This is just one of a thousand stories that we need to unearth and spread the good word! As part of promoting civic pride, we would like to explore ways in which we can inspire one volunteer hour a week from residents performing tasks that could never be budgeted for, to help and support the city in any way they could. Imagine what a million hours could do to transform the city?

• And for Leigh residents, I would seek to rectify the issues surrounding LTC and ensure that its future is safe. There is no getting around it, change needs to happen!

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And finally

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As your MP, I will pick up the phone and listen.  I will read your emails and respond.  I will get us together and work our issues out.  As crass as it sounds, I intend to 'stop stupid' when it comes to obviously bad decisions and bring a fresh set of eyes and ideas.

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I know that many residents vote to ensure the party they dislike the most do not get in.  But I can tell you that almost all the residents I have spoken to have said they are not against a local party representing them.  They have said that however they have voted in the past, nothing has really changed, and so I urge you to read our manifesto and make a decision based on whether you agree with it.  Wouldn't it be nice to actually vote for a party you actually like to like!?

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Thank you for taking an interest and I sincerely hope you can find faith in me at the next elections.

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Kind regards

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James Miller

Southend Confelicity Party Leader

Parliamentary Candidate for Southend West

Mob: 07896219268

Email: jamesmillersouthendconfelicity@gmail.com

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