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Miss Emilie
Oldknow, 29, of Mansfield, who
grew up in Ravenshead and until
a few years ago lived in
Clipstone.
She has a
degree in politics from
Newcastle University and was a
communications officer for the
NHS in Rainworth. She became a
trainee campaign organiser for
the Labour Party in the East
Midlands. She became regional
director in 2006.
In July she
is due to marry Mr Jonathan
Ashworth, who is employed by the
Labour Party and works for the
Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown.
Miss
Oldknow is campaigning on
getting more police on the
streets to tackle crime and
anti-social behaviour, securing
economic recovery and fighting
to ensure more jobs in the area.
Miss
Oldknow said she was standing up
for pensioners and opposing the
Tory cuts being implemented at
County Hall.
She
promises to have a fully-staffed
local office, provide regular
reports for local people, and to
be a full-time MP.
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The
Conservative candidate is farmer
and businessman Mr Mark Spencer,
40, of Spring Lane Farm, Lambley.
He attended
Colonel Frank Seely School,
Calverton, before going to
Shuttleworth Agricultural
College, Bedfordshire.
He joined
the family farm business, and,
in partnership with his wife and
parents, also runs Floralands
Garden Centre, Lambley.
Mr Spencer
represents Ravenshead on Gedling
District Council and holds the
Calverton seat on
Nottinghamshire County Council.
His key
campaign pledges are to work
with the police to cut red tape
and make Sherwood a safer place
to live, to protect the green
belt against development, create
an education system that enables
children to reach their full
potential, to support the NHS
and protect the elderly.
Mr Spencer
said he would work hard for
economic improvement, a more
controlled and fair immigration
policy, and to make sure
Sherwood received its fair share
from Westminster.
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The Liberal
Democrat candidate is Mr Kevin
Moore, of Hucknall, who grew up
in a mining area of West
Yorkshire. He moved to the East
Midlands in 1996 after his son
was diagnosed with autism.
It was then
that he became interested in
politics, spurred on by a lack
of facilities, and angered by
the apathy of local politicians
and bureaucrats.
He
successfully fought battles with
councils and benefits agencies
in order to provide his son with
an opportunity to have an
education. Mr Moore started the
journey to become an MP after
realising many other people
would not have the stamina to
fight for the help they needed.
Having
worked in the financial services
industry for 32 years, Mr Moore
said he had seen many changes,
many of which came as a result
of successive Governments’
attempts to regulate the
industry.
After three
redundancies in seven years, Mr
Moore now works for a local
college providing learning
support for adults.
Elected as
an Ashfield district councillor
in 2009, Mr Moore said he had
already started to help local
people get a better deal.
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The UK
Independence Party candidate is
Mrs Margot Parker, 66, of
Weldon, Northamptonshire.
Grantham-born Mrs Parker is
European adviser and spokesman
for the promotional products
industry.
She writes
for trade magazines and journals
using her experience in sales
and marketing. She is married
with two grown-up sons.
Mrs Parker
believes voters must hold their
MPs to greater account and that
MPs are servants of the people,
who must win back the trust of
the public.
Her
election campaign is based on
eliminating the costs of the EU
on Britain, letting Parliament,
not Brussels make laws, to help
and support UK manufacturing and
to stop the export of British
jobs overseas, reducing crime,
and a fairer and less
complicated tax system.
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The BNP
candidate is Mr James North, 28,
of Asfordby, near Melton
Mowbray, who is a parish
councillor in Asfordby.
He is the
BNP councillors’ representative
on the party’s advisory council,
and the organiser of the Melton
Mowbray group.
Mr North is
campaigning on three main
national issues — bringing
troops back from Afghanistan,
increasing pensions, and giving
people a referendum on whether
the UK should remain in the EU.
He said he
was standing to give local
people a voice, so they could
speak out against the
establishment politicians.
He said he
was not afraid to discuss the
issues that mattered to
residents.
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An independent candidate will contest the Sherwood seat to provide voters with a way to register a genuine protest vote.
Mr Russ Swan, of Lambley, decided to stand after concluding that he could not support any of the existing political parties.
He said he was standing on the None of the Above/Protest Vote slate because the only way voters could register their protest was by
spoiling the ballot paper, abstaining, or voting for a minor party that they did not necessarily support.
“I don't want to be an MP, which is just as well as there is really zero chance of me being elected. But I do want people to be able to
turn to those in Westminster and say: 'You've let us down, and badly.
I believe in democracy but I can't support any of you.
I vote None of
the Above'," he said.
Mr Swan, who has lived in Nottinghamshire for 20 years, went to school in North Shields and has lived and worked in north-east England, Scotland, and in London.
He now works, from his office in
Sherwood, for a London-based publishing company.
Mr Swan freely admits his previous political experience is limited. He
was elected to the post of Athletics Officer for the Sheffield City Polytechnic Union of Students (now Sheffield Hallam University), and was twice elected a school governor in Sherwood.
He is active in several community initiatives including a local fathers' group and a theatrical
production.
Mr Swan is married with three children.
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