General Election candidate profile: Martin Hess

Hove and Portslade have a handful of candidates, some of whom are new to the campaign trail.

One such candidate, who may be new to the political race but is certainly not new to the area, is lifelong Hovarian Martin Hess, who is standing for the new Reform UK party.

Hess was a lifelong Conservative member but like many people found himself disillusioned and politically homeless four years ago, when the Tories restricted freedoms for months on end.

He commented: “As a lover of freedom, I felt the continued lockdown of the country was unnecessary and ruinous to the future of our country in so many ways. The way that the state and all the levers of power worked together to frighten the population into submission has left a lasting negative impression on me.

“The Tories have totally lost their way. They have made our country a much worse place in which to live. A Labour government will make it even worse.

“I don’t see myself as a politician but rather a very concerned citizen of the UK. I am very worried about the direction the country has taken and will continue to take if we don’t make dramatic changes to our direction of travel. That is why I am standing for the Reform UK party, which is the only party with the clarity and courage to put us back on the right path.”

Hess grew up in Hove and went to Cardinal Newman School. His education continued at the London School of Economics with a career path in the IT industry involving large companies such as IBM and HP, as well as smaller companies and start up tech businesses. He is now an adviser to several tech businesses.

Although Hove has been his home for most of his life, Hess says: “It’s a great place to live but could be so much better if we didn’t have a Green or Labour-run council focusing on the wrong things.”

Hess believes in a vibrant enterprise-led economy, with low taxation and rewards for those in work. He is concerned with the high level of immigration and while he agrees some immigration is good, it needs to be significantly reduced as public services cannot cope and it is also seriously jeopardising social cohesion.

He also wants to see the police being overhauled with priorities focused on tougher knife crime, burglary, shop-lifting and general thuggish anti-social behaviour. Hess is against the woke ideology, is concerned about safe spaces for women and girls, and doesn’t believe net zero has been properly thought through. He advocates for the NHS to be reformed.

His local issue concerns include, as an all-year-round sea swimmer, dangerous sea pollution with regular discharges of sewage by Southern Water making it impossible to swim off the beach in Hove. He wants to clamp down on graffiti; pavements weeded, and potholes fixed. Hess is pro-growth and wants to promote Hove as a fantastic pro-business city.