With the General Election on the horizon, News Shopper has been asking local candidates for their positions on key issues in this election.

Matthew Pennycook for the Labour Party, Caroline Attfield for the Conservative Party, Chris Adams for the Liberal Democrats, and Daniel Garrun for the Green Party are standing in Woolwich and Greenwich for election.

In the first half of our questions, we asked them for their stances on key policy areas from the NHS, education, crime and local issues ahead of the vote on June 8.

News Shopper:

Left to right: Chris Adams for the Liberal Democrats, Caroline Attfield for the Conservative Party, Matthew Pennycook for the Labour Party, and Daniel Garrun for the Green Party

  • NHS

News Shopper:

Matthew Pennycook: I saw first-hand the skill, professionalism and dedication of our local NHS staff when my son was born at the Queen Elizabeth, Woolwich, in November. But I also saw a health service under more pressure than ever before. Perhaps most worryingly, our NHS is facing the worst cash crisis in its history. Our own Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust recorded a deficit of £38.4m in 2015/16 (reduced to £22.9m following a capital to revenue transfer of £15m). I pushed for more funding for our NHS and fought to defend and improve our local health services. If re-elected I will continue to work to ensure that NHS patients get the world-class quality of care they need and that staff are able to deliver the standards that patients expect.

Caroline Attfield: I firmly support the NHS, and welcome the extra money Theresa May is putting in to ensure it continues to serve local people. I'm also glad that she has had the courage to address the biggest issue of healthcare in the future: our ageing population. Our opponents have shamelessly tried to scare people with fake claims about our social care plans, but it's vital that we fix this problem, whilst ensuring no-one has to sell their house or lose all their savings.

Chris Adams:  The Liberal Democrats would increase income tax by a penny on the pound to fund a £6 billion yearly cash injection into the NHS.  That would ease the pressure on NHS staff and patients until long-term solutions can be found. We also believe as a Party that there needs to be significantly more integration between Health and Social Care, and that we should provide fair treatment for mental health conditions.  In order to deliver on those priorities, we would seek to ensure local budgets are linked up so our communities can decide how best to provide the full spectrum of care.

Daniel Garrun: I’ve stood outside Queen Elizabeth hospital with striking doctors and nurses and I listened to them when they described how funding cut after funding cut have stripped the NHS to the bone. It’s utterly wrong and it is damaging people’s health and wellbeing. The Green Party will reverse the decline in funding, plug the spending gap and make sure everyone can see a GP. The Greens will introduce a NHS Reinstatement Act to end privatisation making sure that services are publicly funded and free when you need them. We will also see that mental health is given the same priority as physical health.

  • Education

News Shopper:

Matthew Pennycook: The funding problems facing our local schools will be made significantly worse as a result of the Government’s plans to introduce a new National Funding Formula. This new formula will take vital funds away from our local schools and allocate them to other parts of the country.  As a result of these measures, schools in Greenwich and Woolwich stand to lose millions. Local Heads tell me there is not much left to cut, so these reductions will inevitably fall on staffing budgets, as well as materials, books, IT resources, and extra-curricular activities. I opposed cuts to school spending and the new National Funding Formula because I know the damage they will inflict on our local schools and on our children’s education. I will continue to do everything in my power to protect our local schools and ensure every local child – and adult – has access to a National Education Service that will allow them to realise their full potential. 

Caroline Attfield: I want all children to be encouraged to rise to their full potential. For years, left-wing ideology sacrificed the aspirations of the brightest and dumbed down standards. We need to nurture the talent of all children, including those who are academically gifted, which is why I support our plans to allow new academically selective schools - at the same time as continuing to improve school standards across all types of school.

Chris Adams: The Liberal Democrats would invest almost £7 billion nationally in our education system, including investing more in high-quality early years education, building on the success of the pupil premium which we introduced in Government, and introducing a fairer national funding formula. Across the Royal Borough of Greenwich this would mean an extra £53.5 million in school funding over the next parliament, including over £33 million to protect per pupil funding, £17.5 million to ensure no school loses out, and almost £3 million through the pupil premium.

Daniel Garrun: Education for me is literally the first and best solution to every problem, I genuinely believe that. Intolerance, poverty, crime, sexism, disrespect for the environment - you name it, if you want to change these things you have to open people’s eyes and the place to do that is in school. We will abolish SATs and bring academies under local authority control. Greenwich schools are outstanding because parents and teachers have a say which they wouldn’t have in an academy school. I learnt that last year protesting alongside teachers at the John Roan School. They saved their school in the end, but it took three days of strikes. At University level we will scrap tuition fees entirely and fund student grants.

  • Crime

News Shopper:

Matthew Pennycook: For many local residents, it’s the lack of police visibility that often causes concern. That would be addressed by Labour’s plans to provide funding to the 43 forces across England and Wales to hire an extra 10,000 officers operating in community policing roles. We will also provide the framework to enable community engagement and funding to ensure at least the equivalent of one more bobby per electoral ward. That would make a real difference in Greenwich and Woolwich.

Caroline Attfield: As a long-term resident of the area I know what a good job the police have done locally, particularly in tackling burglary. It used to be a fact of life, but is now vanishingly rare. For me, tackling anti-social behaviour is a priority, particularly when drink and drugs are involved. We need a stronger stance to make our streets safe and welcoming even at night.

Chris Adams: We need to focus more on community engagement and increase community policing. Only through better communication with local communities can we truly begin to tackle the causes of crime, building trusty between police forces and local communities. My party would invest £300 million per year nationally to improve community policing. In the meantime, to prevent abuse of power as well as protecting police officers from malicious accusations, we would require all front-line police officers to wear body cameras on duty. We would also do more to encourage greater diversity within the police by resources BAME staff associations for example, so our local police forces are more representative of the communities they seek to serve and protect.

Daniel Garrun: The majority of crimes result from poor socio-economic conditions, so really you have to start by making sure poor communities are being taken care of. There’s that education again! Properly funded education is also a huge priority as is stopping the horrendous cuts to youth services. Personally I think it’s a massive shame to close Greenwich’s libraries when the opportunity to use them as youth centres was there. We would reverse police cuts and pour more funding into rehabilitation. We’d also restrict stop and search, end surveillance of innocent people and improve the accountability of the police force. We’d also start treating drug addiction as a very serious health issue and not a crime.

  • Local issue

News Shopper:

Matthew Pennycook: Despite local opposition, the Tories are determined to press ahead with the closure of Woolwich Barracks. As the MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, I campaigned to save them. If re-elected, I will continue to oppose the sell-off and defend Woolwich's 300-year-old bond with our armed forces.

Caroline Attfield: I know there is a lot of concern from residents about the impact of the proposed new Cruise Terminal, and I would want to work with the Council and developers to ensure local people's voices are heard.

Chris Adams: Beyond the issues I’ve already mentioned, one major challenge for Greenwich and Woolwich is transport links into central London, from changes to rail services – including the removal of the Greenwich line’s direct link to Charing Cross – to a woefully inadequate number of peak time trains on the Greenwich line and overcrowding on the Jubilee line.  It is essential that we secure better and increased public transport, especially by rail, and this is an issue I will be campaigning for if elected as the MP for Greenwich and Woolwich.

Daniel Garrun: Air pollution is a huge issue in Greenwich and its one I’ve been campaigning around for a few years. The big issue is diesel cars; we need to get them off the road it’s as simple as that. A big obstacle to that is the planned Silvertown Tunnel because if that goes ahead it will only suck in more traffic. The Cruise Terminal at Enderby Wharf is also a big local issue, we’ve been campaigning for these massive cruise ships to be given an onshore electric connection so that that they don’t have to burn huge diesel engines in the Thames.