4pm deadline for names to go forward: General Election 2019 – Hammersmith

Today (4pm) is the deadline for names to go forward for the general election on December 12, but the key players have already declared their intention to stand in our five west London constituencies. Here are the candidates for Cities of London and Westminster, and Hammersmith.

Hammersmith has been held by the Labour Party since the constituency was formed in 1983, writes Owen Sheppard.

The Conservatives’ best result in the seat, which stretches up to White City and Shepherd’s Bush, was in 2010 when they came second by 3,500 votes. But since 2016, the area’s residents have consistently voted for remain-supporting candidates.

In this year’s European Parliament elections, the Lib Dems earned the most votes in Hammersmith and Fulham. The party has never finished higher than third in Hammersmith, but the Euro elections suggest they could be the party to challenge Labour on polling day, December 12.

Here is a list of all the candidates:

Alex Horn, Green Party

Mr Horn is standing in Hammersmith for a second time, after the 2017 general election.

The Green Party website says he was born in London and works at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.

“I am passionate about green issues such as air pollution, recycling and renewable energy,” he wrote.
His self-written profile adds: “Air pollution is a key concern in the borough and should be addressed by greater use of electric vehicles, for example in public transport, commercial delivery vehicles, the post office and councils.

“I also believe a national strategy should be drawn up to reduce and eventually eliminate plastic usage at every level throughout the UK.”

Mr Horn graduated from King’s College London University in 1993 with a degree in French and Physics, and has a Masters in wind and solar energy.

James Keyse, Brexit Party

Mr Keyse has lived in Hammersmtih for 31 years and has worked in data analysis and project management.

He was announced as the Brexit Party’s candidate for Hammersmith in September and his Twitter profile states he is a “supporter of democracy and individual liberty”.

Mr Keyse said: “Democracy is a keystone of British life, and it has been under attack in Westminster for the last three years. It is vital that it is defended at all costs.”

He takes aim at Hammersmith and Fulham council’s Labour administration for the closure of Hammersmith Bridge, and he criticises the Tories for the recently-abandoned plan to close Charing Cross Hospital.

Diagnosed with epilepsy as a child, he wants to see improvements in the country’s provision of mental health care.

Having grown up in Putney, Mr Keyse studied maths at the University of Manchester. He returned to London to live in Hammersmith in his early 20s.

On November 5 he tweeted: “I find it disgraceful that voters are being told their options for the UK are either remain in the EU or put a border through our own country.

The Northern Irish are our countrymen and shall not be left behind.”

Andrew Slaughter, Labour

Mr Slaughter, 59, has been an MP since 2005 and was once the leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council.

In the 2017 general election, he won Hammersmith with a majority of 18,651 votes.On his website, Mr Slaughter states his support for a second referendum on Brexit, in which he would campaign to remain.

He also wrote that Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal would have been more damaging tothe country than the deal negotiated by Theresa May.

His voting record shows he is generally very loyal to the Labour Party leadership.
While Labour was in power until 2010, Mr Slaughter was a minister or junior minister in the Department for Transport, the Foreign Office and the Department for Business and Enterprise.

His website says he grew up in Fulham and went to Latymer Upper School, a private school in Hammersmith. He studied law at the University of Exeter.

Before entering Parliament, he was a personal injury and housing barrister. He also worked as a researcher for the BBC and a former Labour MP.

Jessie Venegas, Liberal Democrats

An A-level law and politics lecturer living in Shepherd’s Bush, this will be Ms Venegas’s first time standing for Parliament.

However, in September she stood in a council by-election for Fulham Broadway ward, finishing second against Labour, with 30 per cent of the vote.

Her social media profiles show she is strongly in favour of “stopping” Brexit.
Ms Venegas also works as a researcher and caseworker for Lib Dem MEP Irina von Wiese.

Ms Venegas has lived in the UK for 12 years. She was born in Mexico but grew up in Colombia and Canada.

She studied mass communications and political sciences at McMaster University in Canada. She also has an MSc in teaching and learning from the University of Oxford.

She is currently campaigning to make it easier for EU citizens with UK settled status to vote in this country’s elections.

Xingang Wang, Conservative

Mr Wang has twice stood for Parliament in previous elections, and is a parish councillor in the village of Claygate, Surrey.

His social media profiles consistently show support for the policy of increasing police numbers and tackling crime. In the Conservative leadership election, Mr Wang posted tweets and retweets in support of Brexit-supporting Dominic Raab.

On October 6, he tweeted: “I voted to Remain, but I respect the referendum result. We need to get Brexit done.”  Mr Wang is a financial consultant and was previously a civil engineer.

He has attended university at Imperial College London, the University of Oxford and Harvard, USA.

His Linkedin account shows he has worked for Barclays Investment Bank, Scotiabank and JP Morgan.

According to his Facebook page, he has been married for 11 years and has three children.