We are announcing that we have selected Paul Hoekstra, our local party chairman of several years, as our candidate for the Woking Borough Council and Surrey County Council by-election. Due to the local government reorganisation this by-election is likely be the last ever election to Woking Borough Council.
As a long time resident of Woking and an educator, both as a teacher and as a private tutor, he has spent several years working helping children in this area achieve their potential. During his spare time he has done some work for local charities, joined a variety of campaign groups and engaged in public debates around some of the pressing issues in the community.
Paul has said “I’m thankful that my colleagues, past and present, put their faith in me both as chairman and as a candidate. I hope Woking residents think I’d make a good councillor given the work I’ve done for local groups to challenge the more established parties.”
“The biggest issue locally is obviously the debt mountain that was created by the Tories, with occasional support from the Lib Dems, and it is tempting to talk about how to solve the issue. Unfortunately I cannot do that, simply because, in truth, the borough council can’t fix a debt that big. What we need, instead of impossible promises, is for central government to come in and not just bail out the council but also learn lessons on how the debt grew to be the biggest council bankruptcy in UK history so that it doesn’t happen to another council.”
“I look forward to talking to local members of the community about the challenges they face, my knowledge of the town’s issues and how we can make both Woking and Surrey a cleaner, healthier place.”
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