Darryl Sankey, community stalwart and retired accountant, has been selected to fight the Ingatestone, Fryerning & Mountnessing borough council seat in May 2019. Darryl stood last year and almost quintupled the vote from the previous time, coming within just 202 votes of winning with a 28% swing to the Liberal Democrats.

In 2016, your Lib Dem councillors campaigned against the closure of Brentwood Police Station. The Conservatives closed it anyway.

In April 2017, Lib Dem councillors voted against the "outline plan" for 70 dwellings on its site, saying it was too many for the local infrastructure to cope with. The Conservatives ridiculed us, saying that it wasn't necessarily going to be 70, it said 'up to' and, on this basis, they voted yes to the four storey blocks of flats proposed.

Cllr Vicky Davies, Healthcare trainer & former Theatre Sister, has been selected in Pilgrims Hatch for the fourth time and will be standing to retain her borough council seat in May 2019 and continue serving alongside Cllr Barry Aspinell and Cllr David Kendall.

Vicky was first elected to Brentwood Council in Brizes & Doddinghurst in 1991 and served there until 2006. After a break, she returned to politics in 2010 at a by-election and has represented Pilgrims Hatch ever since, being re-elected in 2011 & 2015.

Sarah Cloke, scientist, has been selected as our candidate for the Brentwood West borough council seat in May 2019.

Sarah lives in Brentwood West with her three children and is well known in the community. She is employed as a manager in a global pharmaceutical company.

Sitting borough councillors Karen Chilvers and Dominic Naylor, plus County Cllr David Kedall, hope to welcome Sarah to their active team in the ward. If you would like to help Sarah get elected, please get in touch.

Hugh Gorton, retired scientist, has been selected to fight the Brizes & Doddinghurst borough council seat in May 2019.

Hugh has lived in Kelvedon Hatch for 22 years with his wife Rosemary. They have a son who is currently at university. Hugh is a member of Kelvedon Hatch Parish Council and is very involved in the local community.

In a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in 2017 it found out that the UK spent $47.2 billion (Approx. £35.5) in defence- which ranked us seventh in the world.

The MOD has also declared that in the past 8 years, the UK has met NATO's 2% GDP target for defence expenditure and in 2017/18 spent £1 billion on military operations. The planned £41 billion project to upgrade Trident (Dreadnought
programme) is also expected to cost £2.2 billion a year to run- for the next 30 years.

Currently, we have an excellent system of managing legal migration with our closest neighbours. "Free movement" gives us the ability to tap in to a workforce with few barriers, allowing people from 28 countries, including the UK, to work, marry, live and study across Europe.

It has provided us with doctors, nurses, scientists, teachers, fruit pickers, hospitality workers, cleaners and more for the last 40+ years and given UK residents the opportunity to exercise the same rights.

I remember when I was a child and my mother would take us to an emporium called "The Farm Shop". I loved it; the way it smelt, the apron-wearin lady behind the counter, the paper bags and potatoes wrapped in newspaper.

But that was the 1970s, before the big supermarkets started to take a stranglehold with their convenience of 'everything in one place' and strawberries all year round. We all followed suit in pursuit of cheaper and cheaper produce. Now, thankfully, it seems the tide is turning again.

As a young apprentice many years ago, retirement to me seemed like a lifetime away and the appealing vision appeared in my mind - no deadlines to get up for in the mornings, sitting in the garden admiring the flowers, catching up with lifetime friends and basically, enjoying my days as I please. Fast forward to the here and now and this utopia has still to happen!

The simple answer to this one is 'all of them', as all are currently underfunded. The money provided by central government and determined by the Conservative
Chancellor has failed to keep pace with the real costs incurred by the various education sectors.

In the maintained nursery sector for example the Local Government Association has expressed its concern. A third said that it was very likely they would need to close
nurseries in their area and that it would mean there was reduced support for disadvantaged children.