Lib Dems select Sally FitzHarris to fight Kingswood seat at General Election

The Liberal Democrats have selected Sally FitzHarris to be their candidate for Kingswood.

Mrs FitzHarris, a 59-year-old grandmother, journalist and teacher, is fighting her first seat for the party.

She only put her name forward to be a candidate last summer, and says she is delighted to have been selected to represent Kingswood.

She has previously been a volunteer case worker for the Liberal Democrats, working for Lynne Featherstone in Haringey. She has also been a parliamentary researcher for Baroness Lindsey Northover, the spokesperson on International Development for the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.

A mother of five grown-up children, and a grandmother of three, Mrs FitzHarris is separated from her husband and recently moved to the area from London in preparation for the election campaign. She is living in North Common and enjoying getting to know more about the constituency.

She intends to hold a street stall in the heart of Kingswood soon to meet constituents and talk about the Lib Dems’ policies.

The boundaries of the Kingswood Parliamentary constituency will change at the next election. Frome Vale, Hillfields, Staple Hill and Downend will no longer be part of Kingswood.  However, parts of Hanham, Bitton and Oldland Common currently in the Wansdyke constituency will come into Kingswood.

 “It is very interesting area and the people I have met so far have been very friendly,” said Mrs FitzHarris.

The National Health Service is one of her prime concerns. “No family is not concerned or worried for the NHS,” she said.

“You have David Cameron promising not to cut the NHS, yet he is talking to nurses from the right-wing group Nurses for Reform. On her blog, Nurses for Reform’s director Dr Helen Evans is saying we should get rid of the NHS.”

Mrs FitzHarris is concerned that the nearest acute care hospital serving the Kingswood constituency when Frenchay closes will be Southmead.

She said: “I am concerned how people from Kingswood are going to get there. I want to see a cheap, if not free bus service, and to get rid of hospital parking charges.”

She is a strong believer in the NHS and full of praise for the treatment her son Guy received six years ago when he was knocked down on a dual carriageway and ended up spending eight weeks in acute care. The accident has left him a paraplegic.

“No part of his treatment could have been better,” said Mrs FitzHarris. “The NHS were brilliant.”

The would-be MP believes the threat to the green belt locally is another major issue facing Kingswood. “The urban parts of this constituency need our fields for leisure space. They are a green lung,” she said.

“Thirty-three thousand new homes in this area as suggested is totally unsustainable. Traffic is already gridlocked. Housebuilding on that scale would destroy communities and ruin lives.

“In this country there are a quarter of a million properties standing empty. It costs £10,000 to make a house habitable but £100,000 to build a new social home.”

She said the Liberal Democrats were very strong on community and empowering people to bring about change in their own neighbourhoods.

Mrs FitzHarris lists her interests as her family, walking in the countryside, the theatre and travelling. She is also “passionate” about the Middle East and is a frequent visitor to the West Bank. Last year she taught Iraqi refugees in Damascus.

At the last General Election, the Lib Dems came in third position in Kingswood, polling 9,089 votes. The Conservatives came second with 18,618 and Labour won the seat with 26,491 votes.

The Tories have put up Chris Skidmore to fight the seat which will be defended by Roger Berry, who was first elected as Kingswood’s Labour MP in 1992.