My Manifesto

FROM East Worthing & Shoreham, FOR East Worthing & Shoreham

-         A FAIR DEAL FOR OUR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

-         SUPPORT FOR OUR NHS AND PUBLIC SERVICES

-         ACTION ON OUR TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE WOES

Your Member of Parliament is YOUR representative in Westminster and is YOUR voice in government. East Worthing & Shoreham needs change if the challenges our constituency faces are to be fully addressed in parliament.

I have lived and worked in East Worthing & Shoreham for most of my life. Your Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem candidates all live in other constituencies in the South East. A vote for me means you are backing someone who fully understands and has a stake in the issues we all face, and who can truly represent the constituency.

My policies are:

A better deal for our children and young people’s education

West Sussex has the fourth lowest funding per student in the country. Although the current government is introducing a “fairer funding formula” this has only meant so far that money has been siphoned away from London and more evenly spread around the country. This policy will lead to real term cuts, despite official government announcements.

We keep being told that there has never been more money spent on education. However, the part that’s left out in these statements is the record numbers of students and the record high costs faced by schools.

We need to enthuse young people with a curriculum that they can ALL engage with, which will then offer a future that young people can ALL aspire to. Someone needs to stand up for the many hardworking, decent young people in East Worthing and Shoreham. I don’t believe they are getting a fair deal out of the political process at present.

Improved funding and support to our public services 

The NHS is creaking under financial pressure. Our constituency’s hospitals have been judged outstanding recently, but without adequate funding how can this level of performance be maintained? The NHS is a source of national pride, and rightly so, but it needs more funding and we need to support the people who do such a good job within it to enable them to continue providing the exceptional service they currently do.

The police are struggling to respond to all the calls they receive due purely to lack of officers and funding cuts. Anti-social behaviour is on the rise as I have unfortunately experienced in my capacity as a committee member at Worthing Cricket Club, where our equipment has suffered at the hands of bored, young people.

Action on the transport and infrastructure problems which blight our constituency

I am forced to sit in the same traffic jams that you sit in every day, avoid the same potholes, walk past the same empty commercial units each weekend and see the same unkempt verges that you see. These things upset me, as I’m sure they do you.

Funding was promised by the Department for Transport to improve the transport infrastructure of the East Worthing & Shoreham constituency, but was withdrawn in March of this year. Seemingly there was no opposition from our representatives in Westminster. This is not acceptable to those of us who suffer the jams along the A27 and A259 each day.

The Southern Rail debacle seems to have become a party-political issue. We must solve this crisis to save what remains of the work-life balance of those whose family life and livelihoods depend upon a reliable rail network. This is not a party-political issue, it is a human issue; our political representatives should be looking to help solve rather than push their political message.

An informed choice on Brexit 

I voted to remain in the EU but Brexit was the preferred option for the majority, so we must aim for the best deal we can get.

Once a deal has been struck, the general public should have the chance to decide whether it’s acceptable. The campaign to leave was based around a hypothetical “life after Brexit” vision rather than facts. Those facts will become clear once the deal has been done. 

I promise that I will not be held back by the interests of a political party with national rather than local interests. I will do my best to represent the interests of the East Worthing and Shoreham community, which is the constituency I reside in and which I contribute to beyond politics.

Party politics rarely meets the needs of the people they are supposed to serve as people’s needs no longer align with those of the political elite. YOU CAN do something about this by voting for an independent candidate.

I am standing for election in order to get a better deal for constituents in East Worthing and Shoreham. I believe serving as an independent MP is the best chance we have for change.

About me: 
I am a maths teacher from Worthing. With 15 years’ experience in state education, I have seen at first hand the damage wrought by Conservative cuts. My wife is a local police officer and I am very aware of the extra pressures brought on by recent cuts. My daughter is about to enter a secondary school in the constituency which is struggling to attract staff, despite having been advised through the academy conversion process by local politicians. With extended family in Lancing, Shoreham and Southwick I am deeply committed to our community; I have served as a school governor and am a current committee member of Worthing Cricket Club, where I also coach juniors. A keen sportsman, I have played for Worthing Cricket Club, Shoreham Cricket Club, Worthing Football Club, Shoreham Football Club and Southwick Football Club.

Andy Lutwyche: From East Worthing and Shoreham, for East Worthing and Shoreham

VOTE INDEPENDENT, VOTE LUTWYCHE ON JUNE 8

And So It Begins...

My campaign has been running for around a week and the support it is receiving is fantastic. It does seem that many people are genuinely tired of the status quo and would like their constituency’s corner fought for.

This might be why I’m getting some attention from supporters of the main parties, who appear to be trying to persuade me to stop running or luring me into saying something they can use against me in the future. It’s almost as if they don’t want anyone else to get involved in their private members’ club.

I have grown tired of watching Question Time due to the continual inter-party bickering, and this appears to be the current modus operandi from party politicians. This bickering helps no-one and is a major reason as to why many have disengaged from politics.

Remove party politics from the mix and we might get somewhere surely…

Andy Lutwyche: From East Worthing and Shoreham, for East Worthing and Shoreham.

VOTE INDEPENDENT, VOTE LUTWYCHE ON JUNE 8

#VoteLutters

Why I Have Decided To Stand As An Independent Candidate In East Worthing And Shoreham

For my entire voting life, bar three years attending university in London and one year working in Crawley, I have lived in the constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham (and its previous incarnations). Over the 20 years that the constituency has existed it has elected a Conservative MP with a reasonable majority, and that MP has been Tim Loughton.

Stopping short of stating exactly who I’ve placed a cross against in general elections, let’s just say that I’m not totally convinced my views and interests as a resident of East Worthing and Shoreham have been represented in Westminster; although I’m not convinced it would be much different had the colour of the rosette of the successful candidate been a different one during that time.

The version of democracy we have in the UK means that people vote for a constituency candidate who best represents their interests in Westminster. Despite the messages coming out from the Conservative election machine, the only people who can vote for Theresa May are those registered to vote in Maidenhead; therefore the people of East Worthing and Shoreham must vote for a candidate who looks after and shares their interests and not one who prioritises the interests of his or her political party. I don’t know about you but I want my Member of Parliament to be a resident of the constituency, and therefore more likely to have the best interests of the constituency at heart, experiencing the same day-to-day issues that those who vote for (and don’t vote for) them experience.

I am tired of half-truths from politicians of all parties, editing out the uncomfortable consequences of policy to suit the party’s message; check out recent policy announcements on the NHS and school funding to see that what the parties state and the reality rarely meet.

I am tired of manipulated data from politicians of all parties, skewing the findings to fit a desired political message. As a mathematics teacher, this is very frustrating, not to mention insulting.

I am tired of sitting in a traffic jam after every working day, wondering why investment in the infrastructure of the constituency is so meekly requested by its representatives in Westminster.

My aim during this campaign is to keep all the candidates honest. I would like to represent the overall interests of the people of East Worthing and Shoreham, rather than represent the policies of a national political party who happen to have had their candidate gain a majority in the previous general election.