UKIP's Lee Seville talks about his election campaign

Lee Seville, UKIP candidate for Rochdale, UKIP candidate for Heywood & Middleton

Lee Seville is standing for the Heywood and Middleton Constituency for UKIP.

Mr Seville is a 49-year-old family man who lives in Rhodes, Middleton. He has lived in the constituency for most of his life.

Rochdale Online caught up with him to find out about his election campaign.

Mr Seville said: “I’ve stood twice in the local elections for West Middleton and I’ll be standing again in 2018. I’ve also stood before for West Heywood and I’ve had a good reception.

“I’ve lived here most of my life, my family live here, I have friends and neighbours here. What affects me here also affects them and I want to represent them.

“I threw my hat into the ring because UKIP is the best option for the country."

Speaking about his policies, Mr Seville said: “I’m campaigning for local issues rather than national.

“My main issue is the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework. We are getting behind the Greater Manchester greenbelt protection people.

“The borough doesn’t have a lot going for it, but we do have a lot of open spaces that we should be protecting. Building on the greenbelt is short-sighted: there are plenty of brownfield sites. Manchester city centre have done lots of developments on brownfield sites and they are vibrant.”

“UKIP, Brexit and immigration are up there. We want a fair points-based system for immigration and a fair deal for Brexit. Over 60% of people in Rochdale voted leave; they knew what they were voting for. It’s silly to assume people didn’t know what they were voting for.

“The money we save from the EU, we would pay into our own pensions and use for the betterment of our country.

“A UKIP government will put an extra £9 billion into the NHS and £2 billion into social care, costed from the savings from the EU. It’s ‘false news’ that we want to privatise the NHS, that’s far from the truth.

“UKIP also have a good policy for housing: start house building with factory-built modular homes which are 30% cheaper than a standardly-built house.

“A Housing Development Corporation would be set up for home ownership only. No landlords could buy and re-rent at a higher price. This would keep prices down and provide affordable housing. When you come to sell the property, you could sell it back to the corporation to resell.

“It would benefit a lot of people here. There are lots who privately rent and they pay a higher cost than a mortgage. It seems the poorest are paying the greatest expense.”

Speaking about his chances in the election, Mr Seville said: “UKIP is about common sense solutions in the country. The main competition is Labour. We need to be able to keep the votes we had in 2015 plus an additional 3,000 for the seat.

“It’s a tall order, but I’m going to fight the best I can and see what I can do.

"KIP aren’t going away, despite people thinking we were here just for the referendum. Many people are fed up of the status quo and want a change of direction.

“We’re the voice of the ordinary person in the streets and we will hold the Government and Local Authority accountable for their actions."