Reform UK confirm General Election candidate
The party has announced Oliver Lewis, from Montgomery, as their candidate, and it follows announcements by Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats for their candidates who will challenge the Conservatives for the expanded seat. Labour have not officially announced their candidate in the media yet, but social media has shown that they are on the local campaign trail with a candidate called Steve Witherden in place.
Reform, led by former MEP Richard Tice, is selecting over 600 candidates to fight electoral contests in all UK parliamentary constituencies, except Northern Ireland.
Mr Lewis is a published author, with a specialism in the life and works of George Orwell and John Steinbeck, and an early career academic.
He teaches history and politics at the University of Oxford and is a Visiting Fellow at SciencesPo in Paris, a leading French university, where he specialises in British and European public policy.
He has resided in Montgomeryshire since 2017, serving as a Community Councillor for the Montgomery community area for five years.
Reform’s main pledges for Government are a policy of enforcement of immigration law and border control with an aim for 'Net Zero Immigration'; ending NHS Waiting Lists; nationalisation of the electricity industry; the introduction of proportional representation for elections to Westminster; abolition of the House of Lords; and ending the BBC Licence Fee.
In Montgomeryshire, Mr. Lewis is campaigning to modernise the county’s infrastructure, to provide a dual carriageway from Shrewsbury to Welshpool, electrification of the Cambrian Line to Aberystwyth, and, by dismantling Powys, restoration of a County Council for Montgomeryshire, based in Newtown.
“Every month which passes seems to show an ever-greater sense of crisis possessing this country, with built infrastructure and public services simply unable to cope with the pressures now placed upon them.” Mr Lewis said.
“Enforcement of immigration law and border control is one of the primary duties of a government; it seems Westminster has given up managing our borders properly. The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties own this mess - Reform exists to address the never-ending cycle of incompetence so that we can get Britain back on track.”
Mr Lewis enters the contest against incumbent Craig Williams, the Conservative elected in 2019. Boundary changes have led to the abolition of the Montgomeryshire constituency and its merger with half of the former South Clywd seat, to the north of Montgomeryshire in the former ‘Glyndwr’ local authority area.
The candidates so far (in no particular order):
Plaid Cymru: Elwyn Vaughan
Labour: Steve Witherden
Liberal Democrats: Glyn Preston
Reform UK: Oliver Lewis
Conservatives: Craig Williams
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