‘I’m a democrat. I don’t complain. I’ve lost plenty of elections’ – Tim Barnes, Conservative candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster

Tim Barnes is the Conservative candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster seat. He lives and works within the constituency and is a former councillor and cupboard member on Westminster Council who represented the West Finish ward.

In 2022 he misplaced his seat as Labour took management of the council for the primary time in its historical past.

He’s definitely a great storyteller with a trove of fascinating anecdotes. As the ultimate candidate in my sequence of interviews, Barnes definitely ended it on an thrilling notice, even palming the desk at one level as he passionately spoke on decreasing carbon emissions.

I started our dialogue by asking him what he plans to do in regards to the large variety of folks sleeping on the streets.

How do you propose to deal with the problem of rising homelessness, together with tough sleeping, and enhance affordability and circumstances for personal renters?

Housing is one among my six most important goals and key elements of my plan. There’s rather a lot to be achieved on this space.

Firstly, we have to construct extra homes. We’ve dedicated to constructing 1.6 million within the subsequent parliament, barely greater than Labour. On this parliament, we constructed one million, which was a great begin however not sufficient. For instance, Sadiq Khan has solely achieved 4 % of his inexpensive housing goal.

Secondly, we have to proceed with leasehold reform. I need to see an finish to no-fault evictions, which is essential and an goal we’re working in the direction of.

Plenty of that is about homelessness. I need to alleviate the pressures and root causes of homelessness.

Tough sleeping is usually what folks imply after they consult with homelessness, but it surely’s totally different. In central London, our constituency has a novel tough sleeping profile. Throughout Covid-19, many individuals got here to Westminster as a result of they thought they’d obtain higher care. We noticed a surge in tough sleepers consequently.

Round 40 to 45 % of tough sleepers listed below are British or Irish and have critical points with medicine and alcohol. Westminster used to make sure anybody who needed it may get a hostel place inside 24 hours, spending about £eight million a yr on this. However some folks don’t desire a hostel place as a result of they don’t need to surrender alcohol or medicine. I perceive that.

We need to use our outreach groups extra to have interaction with folks and give attention to their advanced wants. We launched devoted groups to refer folks to help applications or supply alternate options like hostels.

One other 40 to 45 % of tough sleepers are from Southeast Europe and infrequently a part of organised begging gangs. It is a troublesome scenario and successfully trendy slavery. We have to work intently with Disaster Connections and others who perceive these cultural sensitivities to assist these people.

In some instances, making an attempt to depart these gangs can result in violence in opposition to members of the family again in Southeast Europe. It’s organised prison exercise, and we have to handle it critically.

Are you in help of scrapping the two-child cap on advantages? And why? 

I wouldn’t eradicate it fully. However you’d catch various households within the highest ranges of deprivation, even should you solely raised it to a few, which could sound odd. However it’s fairly comprehensible — when you have 5 children, shifting from two to a few nonetheless makes a major distinction.

There’s a degree the place the prices of elevating youngsters enhance quickly with every further little one. So I might choose to extend it relatively than eradicate it.

What measures will you implement to cut back rising crime ranges?

Essentially, nationally, crime charges are lowering, however London stands out as the one area the place knife crime is on the rise. There are a number of regarding points the place London deviates from nationwide traits. As an illustration, it’s the only real space within the UK that failed to satisfy its police recruitment targets, regardless of Mayor Sadiq Khan returning £30 million allotted for officer recruitment again to the central authorities.

Because the overseer of policing in London, Mayor Khan has carried out a three-borough policing association, severing ties with many skilled officers who beforehand had intimate information of native crime dynamics. Traditionally, Westminster, particularly the West Finish, benefited from skilled officers deployed to handle high-crime areas like Greek Avenue. Nonetheless, this has shifted in the direction of utilizing these areas for officer coaching, leading to patrols performed inefficiently in giant teams relatively than strategically on a street-by-street foundation. This method fails to supply the seen police presence that reassures the general public and successfully addresses crime.

I advocate for a return to borough-based policing, which I contemplate essential. Mayor Khan have to be held accountable to attain his recruitment targets for law enforcement officials. If native recruitment falls brief, I suggest nationwide recruitment to bolster Metropolitan Police numbers.

Conversations with native stakeholders, comparable to retail managers alongside Oxford Avenue or bar homeowners in Fitzrovia and Soho, spotlight frustrations with police response instances. Situations the place police take hours to reach after being known as for incidents like drug-related altercations are significantly troubling. Swift motion and prosecution for lower-level crimes are needed to discourage dysfunction and enhance security, particularly regarding points like shoplifting, which more and more plague retail environments with stringent safety measures.

Do you agree with Wes Streeting that the non-public sector needs to be used to clear the NHS backlog?

The essential precept is that healthcare needs to be free on the level of supply, proper? Whether or not it’s essential care or long-term care, the inspiration of a public healthcare system ought to be sure that folks don’t really feel hindered or constrained when looking for needed remedy. So, whenever you method for the care you want, there shouldn’t be a direct price to you. It doesn’t make sense to me to set a restrict that claims, “Effectively, because the state supplier, if we lack capability or if another person provides a less expensive different, we must always not reap the benefits of that.” It’s a sensible use of public funds.

This method additionally permits for elevated capability. So, so long as we uphold the precept of free supply on the level of care, I’m much less involved in regards to the particular buildings used to attain it.

Relating to long-term circumstances and most cancers, the backlogs are extreme, particularly these exacerbated by Covid-19 that we’re nonetheless working to resolve. Quick-term measures to deal with these backlogs are needed and welcome. We’ve made progress, but it surely’s not taking place as shortly as wanted.

Do you agree with asking NHS employees to work longer hours to clear the ready listing backlogs?

We should always positively supply additional time, and we do, to NHS employees who volunteer to assist clear it. I firmly imagine that no person needs to be compelled to work past their contractual hours. Nonetheless, it is smart to utilise NHS employees throughout all ranges — from GPs to pharmacy and hospital employees — who’re aware of their services and methods. Maximising their experience and integrating further employees into these environments the place possible is important.

Along with utilising present employees extra successfully, we’re implementing different methods to alleviate the backlog. As an illustration, there’s a push to extend the preliminary triage achieved in pharmacies. This doesn’t change the function of docs however goals to divert minor instances comparable to pores and skin burns, abrasions, sprains, or gentle infections which will solely require professional evaluation and recommendation, comparable to figuring out the necessity for antibiotics or different therapies. By liberating up capability in GP practices or hospitals, we are able to prioritise extra pressing instances and enhance general effectivity in healthcare supply.

Do you imagine Thames Water needs to be nationalised? Why or why not? Ought to utilities stay within the non-public sector or be publicly run?

Thames Water needs to be allowed to go bankrupt. If it’s been mismanaged to the extent that shareholders have extracted a lot cash that it could possibly not fulfil its duties, then chapter is the consequence.

This doesn’t imply that water pipes, gutters, and sewage methods will disappear; relatively, they’d be transferred to a extra competent operator. Due to this fact, there’s no justification for utilizing public funds. It’s not as if now we have surplus public funds obtainable for such functions.

If public cash is spent on resolving this concern, it detracts from different potential public sector investments. The basic precept right here is that firms ought to face the results of their actions, fostering accountability not solely in utilities however throughout the non-public sector. Bailing out firms every time removes the danger of failure and solely encourages extra irresponsible behaviour, whether or not in utilities, banks, or every other trade.

How will you help dwelling insulation to cut back payments and enhance power effectivity, thus decreasing carbon emissions?

So there are already present schemes to help further dwelling insulation geared toward decreasing heating payments and related carbon emissions. Some of the efficient methods to attain decrease carbon emissions is thru using low-carbon power era. Within the UK, the set up of offshore wind farms stands out as a major success story over the previous decade, resulting in the nation having the biggest offshore wind capability in Europe.

A number of years in the past, it was unusual for the UK to go a number of days with out counting on heavy carbon-emitting power sources. Now, we’re approaching roughly 100 days this yr the place no coal-fired energy stations or related heavy carbon emitters have been used. This marks a vital achievement in decreasing carbon emissions.

Relating to insulation, many older buildings in areas like Fitzrovia and the West Finish pose challenges because of their building, which regularly lacks power effectivity. Buildings from the 1920s and 1930s, whereas visually interesting, might be among the least environment friendly when it comes to warmth retention, particularly these with single-pane home windows.

In recent times, varied tasks supported by universities and the general public sector have explored methods to enhance the power effectivity of older housing inventory, together with Grade 1 listed properties. Examples embrace tasks in Soho Sq. and Royal School Avenue, demonstrating profitable approaches to upgrading buildings to trendy power effectivity requirements.

At the moment, there’s a must encourage extra widespread adoption of those methods. Surprisingly, heritage legal guidelines have generally hindered efforts to make smart enhancements in power effectivity. There’s potential to boost the looks of home windows, as an illustration, by changing outdated single-pane home windows with trendy double-glazed alternate options that meet present power effectivity requirements.

The bottom line is to bridge the hole between preserving heritage and reaching environmental targets successfully.

How would you enhance the setting for strolling, wheeling, and biking?

The administration of e-bikes as it’s proper now’s a catastrophe. We’ve bought 200 parking bays, and this was a call by the Labour Council who did a take care of Lime with the intention to transfer issues on. And I don’t wholly criticise them for making an attempt, I simply suppose they should admit this doesn’t work.

We have now tens of hundreds of bikes coming into Westminster daily as a result of all people works right here. And now we have ten instances as many individuals working right here as residing right here. And so now we have to host all these bikes within the daytime. And the hundreds of bikes into 200 bays, simply primary maths, it simply doesn’t go. And so we have to both massively enhance the variety of bays, like one other 10 % of bays, so one other 20 bays. Not useful, truly makes issues worse. 200, 300 bays, possibly.

However then we’d like the businesses to pay and we’ll need to work out different issues that we have to do as a result of we’ll have misplaced supply bays for automobiles. We’ll be shedding locations the place emergency automobiles, like police, ambulance and fireplace brigade can pull up.

I’m very a lot an lively traveller however we’d like a greater administration scheme. And I actually do maintain Westminster Council chargeable for the present mess.

I stroll all over the place. I’m very comfortable to see cyclists. Personally, I don’t suppose I’d be protected on a motorbike regularly.

However the different aspect of it’s now we have to cut back the air air pollution that everyone’s shifting by way of. We nonetheless play host to among the worst air air pollution in Europe. Nonetheless bits round Oxford Circus, Cambridge Circus, Marylebone Street are horrific. And it’s an outrage, an absolute outrage, that in 2024 Sadiq Khan nonetheless permits diesel buses puffing out alongside Oxford Circus. The 55, the 22, like how can we not have emissions-free, clear buses within the worst polluting hotspots? They’re the issues that ought to have been prioritised. And we need to encourage extra lively journey.

We have now to wash up the air. All we’ve bought to do is type out, properly… it’s not the one factor we do, however the buses are an enormous a part of that. And the actual fact he hasn’t achieved it’s, in my opinion, prison. He’s killing folks by not cleansing up these buses.

Do you help the place of nations like Norway, Eire, Spain (and lots of others) in recognizing a Palestinian state?

There may be the Palestinian Authority within the West Financial institution. There was Hamas in Gaza. So who’re you recognising? In the event you’re recognising the Palestinian Authority, that’s not essentially a nasty factor or a nasty place to begin. However it doesn’t truly assist to alleviate something in Gaza.

I do imagine in a mannequin for a two-state answer. However I don’t suppose that is the purpose of the method the place you try this. We work out what the state is. We work out who’s representing them. We have now a good set of negotiations in regards to the buildings. However proper now, the Palestinian Authority is broadly recognised as having achieved a reasonably terrible job.

It’s held up as a mannequin of corruption within the context of the Center East. In order that doesn’t appear to be the reply. In any case, they bought kicked out of Gaza on the one time that there was an election.

So till you’ve truly bought a framework of who’s doing the illustration, and that has a democratic foundation, I don’t see how that helps you. I believe it’s performative relatively than constructive.

What needs to be the UK’s relationship with the European Union?

I used to be a passionate campaigner for Stay. There’s an embarrassing {photograph} of me that seems within the Camden New Journal on the anniversary of Brexit Day yearly of me trying up at a board the place mainly simply trying, you realize, shocked. However we had a referendum and my aspect misplaced, proper?

I’m a democrat. I don’t complain. I’ve misplaced loads of elections, lots of them right here and also you don’t flip round and go: “Effectively, I believe the folks bought it improper”. You don’t simply mainly say you’ve been hoodwinked or no matter. That doesn’t make any sense by any means.

All of the polls proper now are pointing to an enormous Labour majority on a minority of votes, proper? They’re nonetheless not going to win 50 % of the vote, even when they find yourself profitable, you realize, 70 % of the seats and so it’s a must to have a system that respects democratic outcomes.

I would really like an in depth buying and selling relationship with Europe. There isn’t a doubt about the truth that we’d like respectable buying and selling hyperlinks. We’d like cooperation on a wealth of points however we are able to’t be speaking about overturning a democratic referendum in lower than 10 years. These are issues that you just get to speak about each couple of generations.

However the different aspect of it’s we don’t know what we’re speaking about. We had a uniquely whole lot. We had a rebate on prices. We had an entire load of exemptions on issues we didn’t like that have been negotiated over three a long time. And if we begin speaking to Europe now, we don’t know what the deal can be. 

They don’t significantly need us and so saying we’d rejoin is a silly factor to say, as a result of we actually don’t know what the mannequin of that might seem like. What we are able to do is figure intently, as we must always do, with our neighbours. 

Discover out extra about Tim Barnes on his web site: votetimbarnes.org

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