UPDATED (2/5/21): PCC Candidates Respond to Our Questions - Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner

 

 

The Current PCC Sue Mountstevens
Is Stepping Down

UPDATED (2/5/21): We have now received answers to our questions to all 5 candidates. 

The questions that we asked to all 5 of them are here.

Please click the links on the menu for our website to see their responses, or click the links below.

Kerry Barker's Responses are here.

Cleo Lake's Responses are here.

Heather Shearer HAS NOT RESPONDED, although we have chased. UPDATE: We gave her until 9pm on the Eve of the polls opening. She STILL has not responded. So here are the questions that she failed to answer.

Mark Shelford's Responses are here.

John Smith's Responses are here.

To say again - Somerset Independents is not standing a candidate. Please read below for more on that. 

We leave it to residents to make up their own minds based on what we believe is our fair challenge to the candidates. 

And leave it to residents to decide whether to vote, to not vote, or to register a "NONE OF THE ABOVE" on their ballot to send a message of protest. 

ITV West Country have published their guide to the candidates here.

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UPDATED (25/4/21): Following requests from residents, more information has been added on the candidates, plus information on the stance from Somerset Independents on the candidates.

Somerset Independents has submitted questions to the candidates. We are waiting for answers from 3 of the 5 candidates. Sadly there was not even an email address for Kerry Barker or Heather Shearer, so we have had to use their "Contact Form". We await responses.

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The candidates have been confirmed for the election of a new Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset.

They were announced today (9th April 2021). The poll will be held on Thursday 6 May 2021 between 7am and 10pm. You can vote by post if you register in time.

The Candidates in Alphabetical Order Are:

Barker, Kerry - Address in Bristol - Labour Party

Lake, Cleo Alberta - Address in Bristol - Green Party

Shearer, Heather - Address in Wells - Liberal Democrat

Shelford, Mark Grosvenor McNeill - Address in Bath - The Conservative Party Candidate

Smith, John - Address in Bristol - Independent

 

You can access their campaign websites by clicking the links under each candidate. Their website will open in a new browser window or tab.

Residents have complained to us that they either did not know about this election, or that they know nothing about the candidates. So we are trying to provide information to residents. We are trying to be as fair as possible to the candidates.

More information on the candidates is available elsewhere on the Somerset Independents website, with responses by our Spokeperson for Police and Crime Andrew Pope. Just click on the "Police and Crime" tag or this link here and scroll down to view the articles.

 

Local Media Reports

Below are the local media reports that we are aware of. If you know of more, please get in touch using our Contact link at the top of the page.

Stephen Sumner of Reach/SomersetLive has produced this article on the candidates. The article has the candidates in alphabetical order and has Q & A's with each candidate.

Jessica Chaffey of The County Gazette has published this article on the candidates. The candidates are not in alphabetical order and not all candidates have photos. There are no explanations for these oversights. But there is a photo of the Chief Constable, Andy Marsh, who is "stepping down" later this year.

The local BBC News (under Bristol, not Somerset) has published this article on the candidates.  This is a very poor attempt by the local BBC. As usual, there is no author willing to put their name to the article. There is no explanation for the order in which they showed the candidates on the article. They are not alphabetical, as they will be on the ballot paper. Worst of all, there are no photos of two of the candidates, Cleo Lake and Kerry Barker.

The local BBC Bristol also put out this report on the BBC TV "hustings" with David Garmston. For the Bristol protests, this may seem appropriate but there is often a Bristol bias in the local BBC's reporting. Somerset is barely mentioned. The Bristol BBC News, sorry "regional" BBC News, do not seem to have reported on the other part of the hustings, only the part relating to the protests. Somerset Independents has repeatedly complained about the Bristol bias.

 

Which Candidate Is Somerset Independents Supporting?

None of them!

We are holding all candidates to account by asking questions and providing information to Somerset residents.

This is so Somerset residents can make their own decision on who to vote for, or whether to put a large cross through the ballot paper to lodge a protest vote that none of the candidates are suitable, with "None of the above" written on the ballot paper.

Why Isn't Somerset Independents Standing A Candidate?

 

Somerset Independents were involved in several discussions with residents of Somerset about standing a candidate.

It was suggested that our Leader Andrew Pope should stand. We also discussed other people who could be a good candidate.

Andrew explains:

Andrew Pope

"A former member of the Police and Crime Panel suggested that I would be a good candidate. I am the Spokesperson for Police and Crime for Somerset Independents too, as well as my other experience as a councillor and campaigner.

I was not keen, as I have too many other commitments.

But I agreed to discuss my potential candidacy with:

• Somerset residents

• a former PCC candidate

• other members and supporters of Somerset Independents

• current and former police officers both here and elsewhere in England, and 

• with the Nominations Officer for Somerset Independents, Denise Wyatt.

We decided between us that there were many reasons why Somerset Independents did not wish to stand a PCC candidate.

These included:

1. Somerset Independents does not campaign in Bristol, Bath or South Gloucestershire. We focus on Somerset.
   
2. Somerset Independents does not have the funds to put in the huge £5,000 deposit that all candidates have to make. In fact, some of our supporters were incredulous that it is such a large amount of money. Only national political parties like Labour, the Lib Dems, Greens and Tories can find this money.
   
3. Somerset Independents is only a year old and is run by volunteers.
   
4. Somerset Independents does not have the money for the campaign costs. We are volunteers and do not have the massive money that the national parties have.
5. We have made it clear that we believe that the May elections should be delayed until they can be conducted safely and democratically. Neither are possible while the National Emergency continues. We will not put people at risk.
   

Maybe next time, we will have a PCC candidate. But not this time.

We agreed instead that we would hold the declared candidates to account.  That process has already begun."