Meet the candidates fighting for your vote at this year's 2017 general election

The Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Ukip and Green parties have all put forward candidates to contest the seat on June 8.

Incumbent Tory MP Kit Malthouse will attempt to defend the seat for the first time, since replacing predecessor Lord George Young at the previous general election in 2015.

He will face competition from Liberal Democrat, Alex Payton, Labour's Andy Fitchet, Ukip's Roger Clark and Green candidate Dan Hill.

With the vote now less than three weeks away, the Advertiser has collected profiles on each of five hopefuls aiming to get your vote on polling day.

Labour: Andy Fitchet


 

I think North West Hampshire deserves a truly local MP.

I was born and raised in Andover, attending two local schools and have worked all over the constituency.

For the last four years I have been the Baptist Minister of Whitchurch.

For the last seven years I have served Andover as an Andover Town Councillor.

Locally I want our community to be the best place to grow up in, work in, live in and retire in.

If elected I want to oversee the rejuvenation of Andover including working to see the Chantry Centre full again.

I want to use the pressure of office to stop Housing Associations and Developers take residents for granted.

I want to see investment in our children’s education not the PTA paying for pens and pencils.

Most of all I will be a visible, accountable and truly local MP, standing up for residents not standing by.

Liberal Democrat: Alex Payton

Alex Payton is 43 and has lived in Greenham since 2004.

A graduate of Oxford University, he is a barrister specialising in contracts, duty of care, housing and land.

He has been town councillor and mayor of Thatcham, and was Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for NW Hampshire in 2015.

In his spare time he plays cricket.

Alex believes the majority of voters did not vote for a hard Brexit and that the government should seek a relationship with Europe which represents all interests not just the leavers.

Alex has a record of campaigning and achieving for the community.

He has no outside directorships and would devote all his time to being a local MP for local people; fighting for improved transport links and better housing, and defending schools and health services.

He will be the local voice of NW Hampshire in parliament, not of parliament in NW Hampshire.

Green: Dan Hill

Over the past 30 years I have been raised, educated, married and employed in this constituency.

I’m a Green Party member because I believe sustainability needs to be the forethought of our society rather than an afterthought.

That applies universally for many things like: resource use, public service provision and how our government balances its books.

In my view we need a government that gets the essentials right.

These things I want the election to draw our attention to.

Can everyone feed themselves? Does everyone have a secure home?

What about affording to keep warm through the winter? Get to where they need to cheaply?

The answer to all of these should be a simple yes, but it’s not.

How we got this far into the 21st century and have still not resolved these basic needs of life requires us all to have a massive rethink.

Conservative: Kit Malthouse

Named as one of the twenty most active new MPs, Kit Malthouse was elected as the Member of Parliament for North West Hampshire in 2015.

A chartered accountant, he started his own business more than 20 years ago and remains a fierce champion for small business.

Children’s issues have also been a particular focus and he has campaigned successfully for more protection for young people from drug dealers and online pornography. In the constituency he brought the community together in several well-attended summits to address a range of issues such as rural broadband, dementia, youth suicide, education and pensions.

Kit said: “The last two years have been a whirlwind of activity visiting dozens of schools, businesses, fetes and fairs across this lovely slice of England, all the while meeting and helping thousands of constituents.

"It has been a great privilege. I hope people will allow me to continue this important work after June 8th by voting Conservative, and supporting Theresa May as she goes into the vital Brexit negotiations with as strong a hand as possible.”

Ukip: Roger Clark

I come from a family that has spent much time working abroad and have spent considerable periods in Africa and in the Middle East, including Syria, then a most peaceful country and consider myself a citizen of the world.

I am appealed by the many betrayals over decades by our political leaders, including David Cameron, in my eyes the main instigator in the Syrian civil war that has unleashed such devastation in the Middle East.

We need to pull in our horns, get out of the EU, stop sucking up to corrupt regimes, the effects of which I have witnessed first-hand during my travels and end foreign aid to corrupt countries and instead unashamedly promote Britain BIG TIME.

All of this will be much easier as a result of Brexit.

This means ending unlimited immigration, greatly increasing our exports and farm production and our fishing fleet, which was sacrificed by Edward Heath on the altar of the illegal common fisheries policy.

I want to end regime change, end wards that are not our to fight, and end the repeated near-bankrupting of our nation.

Some people seem to think that's fascism, I don't think so.

Today's fascism comes from the liberal elite centre - the Lib Lab Con.

If you vote Lib Lab Con, you will just get more of the above crass policies, akin to fascism where the peoples' views count for little.

I would like many more national and local referenda, where our views count for a lot more.