PPC Profile: Paul Smith

Full name: Paul Smith

Age: 45

From: Bristol

PPC for: Bristol West

Website: paulsmith4bristolwest.org.uk

Blog: bristolwestpaul.wordpress.com/

Twitter: @bristolwestpaul

Selection Result: 51% on the first round

Member of the Labour Party since: 1982

CV:
I grew up on a large council estate on the southern outskirts of Bristol. I was nominated from my youth club onto the local youth council when I was 16 and was involved in campaigns around youth homelessness and unemployment. I joined the Labour Party when I was 18 (I didn’t realise you could until then).

I studied at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for my BSc in Astrophysics and Astronomy (all of us are in the gutter, some of us looking at the stars) and then my PGCE in Maths and Physics to ‘A’ Level. I was President of the Students Union in 1984-85.

In 1988, I was elected to Bristol City Council. I tetired from Council in 1999, having held at various times the portfolios for regeneration, environment, property and leisure. I also chaired the city centre partnership board for 6 years.

My career in youth work started in 1987 and drew me back into the issue of youth homelessness and a long career in social housing. I was a founder member of a youth homelessness organisation and worked for a regional special needs housing body before becoming South West Regional Officer for the National Housing Federation. From there, I went on to be Chief Executive of the skills charity Housing Potential UK and Director at the Heart of England Housing Group.

I left housing to become Chief Executive of the Furniture Re-use Network, but I am now doing a variety of freelance work so that I can give more time to my campaign.

I have three children, aged 22, 17 and 3. I am a member of Compass, The Co-operative Party and Unite.

I was inspired to go into politics because:
I have a hatred of poverty and discrimination. I owe my political conscience originally to Catholicism, my understanding of socialism I learned through my education (Hartcliffe Comprehensive School was full of radicals if you knew what to look for) and my anger and anarchism from Punk Rock.

My main policy interests are:
Creating a more equal society and world, climate change & environmentalism and science and technology.

Three things I think should be in the next Labour manifesto are:
1 – A commitment to keeping key public services in the public sector. We also need to abandon some of the centrally driven managerialism that has crept into Government. We need a clearer focus on the outcomes we have and the vision we have for a fairer Britain and less on the generation of targets and statistics. More faith should be put in public servants who we rely upon to deliver our education, health, housing and other services.

2 – A clear plan to become a carbon neutral society, including the ditching of any new runways to serve Greater London (Heathrow or anywhere else). This would involve investment in renewable energy technology/generation and using our universities to establish Britain as a centre of excellence in the development of the technologies needed to avoid global catastrophe.

3 – Scrapping the British nuclear deterent and a scaling back of our military commitments.

I think people should vote for me because:
I am a passionate advocate for a more equal world where it is people’s skills and qualities that matter more than where they were born. I believe that climate change is not just about the protection of humanity but is a socialist issue, where the changes we cause are already harming the world’s poorest the most.

I am a social liberal and am concerned about the tendency to pry more into people’s lives, to restrict their freedoms and to dictate how they live their lives. I see no benefit in yet another identity card when we already carry so many.

Locally I have shown a great passion for Bristol and its people and have seen how political power can be used to improve people’s lives and the local economy.

I see too few politicians with any sort of scientific background and would hope that I could contribute something in this field.

Now is the time for a new generation of politicians who do not owe their selection and election to the political class, but who have a wide hinterland from employment and community activity. The local population includes people with huge skill and knowledge, which I will draw upon extensively to ensure that I am well informed.

Although I am a believer in the Labour Party and its desire for social justice, I am not prepared to be unthinking cannon fodder for the whips. Politicians must have principles and must be prepared to listen to the views of their constituents when reaching decisions on the issues that face them and the country.

A vote for me will be a vote for Labour, a vote for Bristol and a vote for accountability.