General Election: Bedford candidate says Reform UK is "genuine alternative" to Labour and Tories

Matt Lansley said: “Millions of people, including myself, feel completely disenfranchised and we’re stuck in a death spiral where half the country just wants the Tories out and the other half just want to stop Labour getting in, and I feel Reform is a genuine alternative to both.”

The small business owner said he had leaned towards the Conservatives, but he never felt they were a real home for him.

“I went to a state school and I didn’t go to university,” he said

“And I think there is still a lot of snobbery in the Conservative’s selection processes.

“But with Reform I genuinely feel that, especially with Nigel Farage, that we can get through to people and that Reform is a genuine alternative for the two major parties who have sort of almost merged into one,” he said.

Mr Lansley said being a business owner for ten years means he’s used to stress, being in a fast-paced environment and unsociable hours.

“I’d run a constituency office like I’d run a business – smoothly and efficiently,” he said.

“A complaint I keep hearing is the poor quality of responses [from MPs] and how long case work takes.

“I think that scrutiny of all public roles is vital, and MPs’ casework should be independently audited with the results should be ranked nationally.

“Then we can see which MPs are actually doing a good job for their constituents,” he said.

If elected, Mr Lansley said he would step away from his businesses to commit his time to represent Bedford.

He added that he is committed to Reform UK’s contract/manifesto and would not betray the promises at the first opportunity if he was elected.

“To me, that would completely kill democracy,” he said.

To “improve” democracy, Mr Lansley says he would campaign for proportional representation, and remove power from MPs “at every opportunity” to push towards direct democracy “where people will have their say on all major issues”.

“I know from speaking to people that they are fed up with the two major parties,” he said.

“A vote for Reform UK is a genuine vote for change and Reform is a real genuine vote for change in Bedford.”

The other candidates standing to be Bedford’s next MP are:

Prince Sadiq Chaudhury - Workers PartyPinder Chauhan - ConservativeBen Foley - Green

Tarek Javed - IndependentHenry Vann - Lib DemMohammad Yasin - Labour

The election will be held on July 4.