About Andy Stamp

Parliamentary Campaigner for Gillingham and Rainham

Andy has been an active local campaigner in Gillingham & Rainham for several years. He was born and brought up in Gillingham, went to local schools, and therefore cares greatly about the issues and problems facing local communities.

At 27, Andy is Medway's youngest Councillor. He was elected onto Medway Council in May 2007 and is Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group. Andy has fought several successful local campaigns for better street lighting, road improvements, traffic calming and pedestrian crossings in the North Gillingham area that he represents.

Andy is fed up with the cosy two party politics which has existed for far too long; only the Liberal Democrats can put an end to the power-sharing arrogance and complacency of the Labour and Conservative parties.

Andy is opposed to the recently announced closure of two schools in Medway and is concerned they could be the first of many. Andy is campaigning for smaller class sizes in Primary schools and will fight to keep all our local schools open.

Despite massive investment, there are still huge health inequalities in Gillingham and Rainham. In parts of Gillingham, people die up to 10 years younger on average than people living in Hempstead and Wigmore. Andy feels that more must be done to close this gap through education and better access to health services in our neighbourhoods. Andy is also campaigning against the huge parking charges at Medway Hospital which are imposed on patients and their relatives.

Andy doesn't feel the Government or the Council is doing enough to help local residents and small businesses through the recession. He is also shocked by the fact that over 1 million people under the age of 25 are without work. Andy thinks that more investment in apprenticeships and internships is vital. The Liberal Democrats are also campaigning for a fairer tax system which will give those on lower and middle incomes a much better deal.

Andy has a proven track record of campaigning to tackle climate change and protect the environment. He has been a vociferous opponent of the government's plans for a new Coal Fired Power Station at Kingsnorth. Andy believes we should be investing in new High Speed Rail Links to cut greenhouse gas emissions instead of building a Third Runway at Heathrow.

Andy is campaigning on behalf of commuters against inflation-busting Rail fare price hikes, and is highlighting the problems with overcrowding on local rail services at peak times. Andy is disappointed by the Government's failure to properly plan the new high speed rail services, which has led to a cut in the number of trains going to Victoria and Cannon Street.

Andy wants to scrap the Government's expensive and unworkable plans for ID Cards, and use the money saved to put 10,000 extra Police Officers on our streets instead. This will make people feel safer in the neighbourhoods and increase the number of crimes that are detected and solved.