James Allen appointed Lib Dem Candidate for Southend East and Rochford Constituency

James Allen has been appointed as the Liberal Democrat Candidate for the Southend East & Rochford Constituency, the seat being vacated by Sir James Duddridge who will be standing down in the 2024 general election. 

For thirty years Liberal Democrat James Allen has lived in several parts of the constituency: Barling, Shoebury and Southend. He knows all the local communities and is the only declared candidate who lives in the constituency.  

James has worked in both the public and the private sectors, often on major infrastructure and transport projects in the UK.  

James Allen is a great believer in community and has volunteered whenever he could. He was a Justice of the Peace in Southend, a Chairman of Barling Parish Council in Rochford and has raised thousands of pounds for charity.

Before settling in the constituency James had experience of living overseas in California and Hawaii. He told the Echo "Seeing the US health care system at first hand makes you really appreciate our National Health Service (which was designed by a Liberal, Lord Beverage in the 1940's). However, our wonderful NHS has been allowed to deteriorate under the current government. The Southend area has one of the worst waiting lists per head of the population in the country. There are literally millions of people throughout the UK waiting for the medical help they need before returning to work.  Many of those people could be contributing to our nation's economy - where is the sense in that? " 

"At Christmas the King paid tribute to the work of the nation's carers. As Liberal Democrats we have long fought for a better deal for carers. The lack of an efficient and properly funded care system is one of the key things holding back healthcare in this country, it causes a serious blockage in the hospital system. NHS data published recently stated that 18,669 hospital patients were considered fit for release on Christmas Eve but only 8,667 were discharged. With a better care system a large amount of those 10,002 people held in hospital could have been discharged. The Lib Dems are committed to a number of measures to resolve this, including paying carers more for their valuable work. Dedicated carers need to receive a wage that can support a normal lifestyle in the UK. We should not be relying on workers from other countries to provide our healthcare needs." 

The Liberal Democrats nationally believe they have finally recovered from their time in the coalition government, when they took all the flack but received none of the credit for dragging the country back from the brink after the financial crisis at the end of Gordon Brown's Labour government. 

Within the constituency the Liberal Democrats are the second largest group on Rochford District Council which has no Labour Councillors. The Lib Dems are also reporting increased support in Shoebury, Thorpe Bay and Southend. They will be real contenders in the up and coming general election.