We continue our series of interviews with May’s local election candidates by meeting South Jesmond’s Conservative hopeful, Olly Scargill – a medical student at Newcastle University who is campaigning on issues of climate change, the reopening of roads and council tax cuts.

What qualifies you to be a councillor in South Jesmond?

“I’m here for a long time – for five years, plus all of the training after I qualify, and I’m already really passionate about seeing some change here in Newcastle. I’m really honoured to try and push this Conservative message, which is really positive, across the city and specifically in Jesmond, which is where I am living. I already feel like this is my home.”

Why are you standing as a local councillor?

“It’s important to remember that I’m standing for councillor, not prime minister. How much I can implement is going to be very restricted. What we care about is good roads, pollution and anti-social behaviour – it’s not grand political theory, but I am a one-nation Conservative and I’m very liberal on social points.

“I think we should encourage people to work hard and get good qualifications. I think these are things that would benefit Newcastle, being this hub for technology and innovation. There’s still so much more to be done though. I’m big on things like climate change and pollution. There’s nothing more conservative than conserving the environment. In terms of pollution, we’ve got several monitoring stations across Newcastle which are reading levels exceeding optimal values, and this is something we need to be tackling.”

The Newcastle Conservatives social media accounts say council tax in Newcastle has increased by 25% since 2017. What should happen instead?

“We want to stop these massive increases, although I’m not going to say a specific figure because we’re not in the council yet.”

What’s your response to Labour’s claim that council tax rises are necessary because of central government cuts in funding?

“When you look at other Conservative councils, they’ve not had to do this [increase council tax]. Look at the reserves the [Newcastle] Labour council is sitting on and look at the salaries some of the people get there. It’s so easy to just blame government for absolutely everything.

“Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a pandemic, but I have a lot of faith in what the chancellor [Rishi Sunak] is doing in very difficult times, and to just blame government cuts to push up council tax is very weak. Looking at things like reserves, I think they should be mobilising that rather than just implementing council tax, but because there’s been no real opposition to Labour in the area, it’s been easy for them to do that.”

Newcastle Conservatives have launched a petition to halt local bridge and road closures, such as Haldane Bridge. What would you say to campaign groups such as Space for Jesmond which say it’s safer for these closures to remain?

“I’ve spoken to a lot of residents in South Jesmond and in areas like Gosforth as well, where they’ve been affected by these bridge and road closures. We want to have them open, and of course if we find out things are dangerous, then these are things we need to be fixing as well.”

Newcastle City Council hasn’t had a Conservative councillor since 1996. What makes you think you can win here in South Jesmond?

“When you look at national polling, it’s all in our favour and I think it’s time we provided some real opposition to Labour [in Newcastle]. We’ve seen across the north east now that it’s not a Labour stronghold – it’s going blue, because the Conservatives are becoming the party of the working class, which is something we need to continue into Newcastle.”

Some of your other policies include cleaning up streets, and repairing road surfaces and potholes. How can you fund that while cutting council tax?

“We want things to be more efficient and there are lots of areas where we could make things more efficient. For example, the chief executive [of the city council] has a huge salary, which since 2016 has increased by £40,000. There are very few residents here who will have received a £40,000 pay rise in the last five years.”

Anything else you would like to say to voters in South Jesmond?

“This is a fantastic year for Newcastle Conservatives. We’ve got a really positive plan for the whole of Newcastle, and South Jesmond specifically. I want to tackle anti-social behaviour and pollution. There are fantastic national stories such as the vaccination programme, and in the north east, the vaccination bus – such great stories of how the community has come together, and I really think this is the year to vote Conservative and carry on that positive plan all the way into Newcastle and into South Jesmond as well.”

You can meet and quiz all the local election candidates when JesmondLocal hosts a Zoom version of its traditional local election hustings on Tuesday May 4th from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.

This online event is free, but to be able to attend, you must register. Details of the Zoom link and passcode will be emailed to all registrants just a couple of hours before the event begins. We will also be emailing registrants with details of how they can put their questions to the candidates.

To get your free ticket, register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jesmond-local-election-hustings-2021-online-tickets-152269302583