PPC Profile: Annajoy David

Full Name: Annajoy David

Age: 45

From: East London

PPC for: Scarborough and Whitby

Website: www.labour4scarboroughandwhitby.net

Member of the Labour Party since: 1984

CV:
The mother to an 11 year old daughter, I am a business woman and company director to five companies based in Spain. In the 1980s I set up Red Wedge with Paul Weller and Billy Bragg, an organisation dedicated to getting young people involved in politics through the popular arts. I was also Vice Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the early 1980s.

I was inspired to go into politics because:
I believe that social democracy is valuable and that we have to use it well and be good custodians of it. People should aspire to succeed and if in some way we in the labour movement can help people to achieve that it will have been worth it. I am a product of a Labour success story and I want to give something back. Things like the NHS and building a true meritocracy are worth fighting for, and social democracy is a good place to do that from. The Labour party has done some good and even great things, but we need to remember and understand where we have come from to know where we are going. There are many unsung wonderful people who have inspired me to be part of the Labour movement over the years.

My main policy interests are:
* Young people and young people’s services, which are in need of a major rethink.

* Housing – I invest in land as part of my business. I can see the huge problems with our supply side as demand outstrips supply. I also think that the current strategy for large scale house building has valid question marks. We need to rethink who is eligible for social housing, how social housing is brought more into the mainstream market place of what is on offer to families and how social housing is funded, including issues of ownership of social housing. Importantly we need to think about how we build, where and to what scale. We need to build homes and communities and not simply fulfil a numerical remit.

* Transport – I think this has been an area of failure for for us. The rail network needs to be re-thought, in terms of where it goes, how it operates and who owns it.

* Fishing and Agriculture – CFP is a joke and we are losing our local fishing industries. Urgent thinking is required on how our local industries can grow and develop a market place that is sustainable and helps our local industry grow. This involves work with our food retail sector, but we also need to see our fishing industry as part of the solution, not part of the problem.

* Agriculture – How do we help our farming communities to grow food again and make them sustainable? Food production is a massive 21st century issue and it needs to come back onto the UK agenda.

* Technology and the emergence of a mixed 21st century economy. Britain needs to and can make things again. We need to encourage small scale new technologies in engineering and new sectors. Green technology has a significant role to play in becoming an employer and a vibrant business sector. Waste to energy plants like Scarborough Power should be a priority in that programme.

* The High Street. The homogenisation of the high street is stopping individual sellers from coming onto our high streets. I want to see more done with local authorities to encourage new small retail businesses to return to our high street and to provide the serves local retail needs. Bring individuality back in to the retail sector!

Three things I think should be in the next Labour manifesto are:
1 – Nationalise the rail network and make it a unified network again.

2 – Prioritise smaller class sizes in schools, particularly secondary schools, get rid of SATS and give more autonomy to schools to run themselves.

3 – Priortise incentives for small business which will encourage a generation of young entrepreneurs to go into business. Plan for a more varied and mixed industrial and business environment through tax incentives and good business rates by working with local authorities for small local business and national/international business.

I think people should vote for me because:
I am extremely dedicated and hard working and I am told that I am a good listener. I think it’s vital to have MPs who have done varied and interesting things in their lives prior to going into public life. When I won the selection I moved my family up to the constituency from London; I thought at the time that it was the right thing to do, and it was. We love the constituency and with the CLP we are doing some valuable and rewarding work and I’m learning things all the time.

I have excellent communication skills; I am honest and believe I always act honourably; and I am very dedicated to being an ambassador for my constituency.

I have a good track record in business. That’s given me some key experience in how to approach things, make decisions and use judgement, which are all invaluable.

AOB:
You can often catch my articles in Tribune. I have recently done a two part radio programme with Billy Bragg and others on Thatcher and the 1980s the impact of music and popular culture, hosted by Jeremy Vine.