Below are scans of Charlotte’s declaration of interests. Click on a page image to enlarge it.

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A Conservative government will unleash people’s energy, ideas and passion to get Great Britain moving again.

Charlotte Leslie, Bristol North West’s prospective Conservative MP, today welcomed Andrew Lansley, David Cameron’s shadow Secretary of State for Health, as he unveiled the Conservative Party manifesto on College Green.

The manifesto, officially launched this morning in London, invites everybody in the UK to form the next government by giving real people real power. Government should be there as a safety net to support and a spring-board to enable -not to micromanage and interfere with every part of people’s lives. A Conservative government will unleash people’s energy, ideas and passion to get this country moving again.

For residents of north west Bristol, a Conservative government will bring real change. Charlotte has a special interest in health issues. Her father is an NHS Bristol surgeon and she strongly supports plans to transform Southmead into a new state-of-the-art acute hospital. Under a Conservative government, not only will doctors be empowered to prioritise patient care over targets, but patients will be able to rate hospitals and doctors, and anyone will have the power to choose any healthcare provider that meets NHS standards.

Andrew Lansley, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, was greeted with cheers as he arrived on College Green soon after 4.30pm and gave Bristol residents their first look at the Conservative manifesto launched only a few hours earlier.

Priorities include radically improving our school system to make opportunities more equal. There will be extra funding for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and Keystage 2 tests and league tables will be overhauled. First-time buyers will be helped to get on the property ladder and new businesses will not have to pay National Insurance contributions for their first 10 employees.

Bristol already has a strong culture of recycling, but under a Conservative government there will be even more incentives to encourage recycling and working towards zero waste. And railways will be improved and local transport made greener.

After speaking to Mr Lansley, Charlotte said: “It’s great to hear a Shadow Minister understanding and reiterating what I am hearingon the doorsteps of north west Bristol every day- power to the people! People have had enough of an over-bearing, inefficient Government squashing their ambitions, but at the same time, failing the most vulnerable who most need Government’s support. Its time to overhaul our politics and our Government. ”

Finally, after false starts and keeping the public waiting, Gordon Brown has gone to the palace and called a General Election. Here in Bristol North West, the electorate will be voting not only for a local MP to serve them, but their choice of MP could also determine which Government runs the country.

That is because Bristol North West is a key Labour seat that Gordon Brown will want to win to cling onto power, and that the Conservatives must win to form a new Government and herald a fresh start.

Bristol North West is currently held by Labour MP Doug Naysmith, and notional results from the last General Election show that Labour are ahead of the Conservatives by only 1000 votes, with the Liberal Democrats trailing around 4,000 votes behind. These are the figures being used by the independent media – BBC, ITV, and SKY as well as academics.

Confused by different election graphs?

Although the local election results from this summer show the Conservatives ahead, these are not a good indication for the General Election, since many people who may vote for minority parties locally, vote Labour or Conservative at the General Election.

Comparing a local election to a General Election is like comparing apples and pears – which is why we use the results that the independent media, the bookies and the academics all use – showing a tight two horse race between Labour and Conservative.

Local woman, Charlotte Leslie, has been working in Bristol North West as the prospective MP for over three years. Charlotte has marked herself out by her energetic campaigning, her focus on action over words, and by her pledge to begin cleaning up politics by refusing to respond in kind to negative, personal, smears made against her.

It promises to be a closely fought, exciting campaign. Commenting, Charlotte said,

” I believe this country desperately needs a change.  I have been doing all I can to be the kind of change we want to see – clean, positive campaigning, with a focus on action, integrity and service.

Thank you to everyone who has been such a support over the last three years – especially to all those of you who have never voted Conservative before, but who have rallied behind our work so strongly.

I know we can not only win Bristol North West, but also begin to make the change we need to see in politics, and in our country.”

You can read more about Charlotte’s pledge about positive campaigning HERE

And you can read about her pledge on honesty and expenses HERE

In the wake of the Westminster expenses scandal and a flurry of personal attacks in opposition leaflets, Charlotte Leslie has pledged to conduct a positive General Election campaign, free from personal attacks.

Charlotte says,

“After the scandal of MPs expenses, we must clean up our discredited political system – with honesty and positive action.

It is a shame that unwarranted personal smears have been levelled against me, but I refuse to respond in kind. Instead, I’m concentrating on action here in Bristol.”

“But it is utterly wrong to mislead electors about other candidates. The public deserve to decide how to vote based on truth. So it is only right that I put the record straight on allegations made about me.

Firstly, accusations about where I’m from – which are patently ridiculous. I’ve lived in the area since I was two, went to school here, represented City of Bristol Swimming Club and live in Westbury-on- Trym. Secondly, attacking my career path – although I currently work with the National Autistic Society.

“These kind of attacks are an insult to swimming teachers, children’s tutors and to the life-guards who patrol our dangerous coastline, working with emergency services – all jobs in which I have worked. That hands-on experience is invaluable to politics. But most valuable is honesty and positive action. And that is how I intend to campaign.”

If you want to find out more about the work Charlotte has done, where she is from and more about her life, listen to her interview with BCFM, HERE. ]]> http://charlotteleslie.com/2010/02/charlotte-why-i-wont-insult-my-opponents/feed/ 0 http://charlotteleslie.com/2009/10/charlottes-pledges-to-you-on-expenses/ http://charlotteleslie.com/2009/10/charlottes-pledges-to-you-on-expenses/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:31:04 +0000 Editor http://charlotteleslie.com/?p=868 ” Like so many people across Bristol, I have been disgusted and dismayed at the revelations of how some MPs have been spending our money. Politics should be about duty and public service. That’s why I went into politics and am standing to be your MP – to serve.

But some of the people who were supposed to be serving the public interests, were found fleecing the public purse; some within the rules, some bending the rules, some possibly breaking the law. That is a terrible abuse of public trust.

How did things go so wrong? Yes, the rules were inadequate and need changing. But it’s more than that. Being an MP is about duty, service and integrity, whatever the rules. So I’m making the following pledges to you now, like a contract between us, to demonstrate the kind of MP I will be if you elect me.

As the Prospective MP for Bristol North West, I promise to:

• Act at all times as your MP in the spirit of public service and integrity, not for individual gain
• Publish on my website details of all my personal and office expenses incurred as your Member of Parliament
• Appoint a firm of independent auditors to approve annually my expenses accounts
• Open up my unedited expenses claims annually to local newspapers
• Never claim for my groceries, household furniture or goods
• Meet my own tax liabilities without claiming them from the taxpayer
• Publicly advertise all jobs for my office
• Not make capital gains at the expense of the tax payer

These are my pledges to you. And if you elect me and I break any of these pledges, it is right that you hold me to account at the ballot box.

Yours sincerely,

Charlotte Leslie

Charlotte at home in Westbury

Charlotte Leslie, 30, lives locally in Westbury-on-Trym, and works from home for the National Autistic Society. She has lived in Bristol nearly all her life. While at school in Bristol, Charlotte represented the City of Bristol in swimming, and made national finals in 100m and 200m Backstroke. She went on to study Classics at Balliol College, Oxford, and spent her university summers employed as a surf-lifeguard on the beaches in North Cornwall.

About Charlotte

Charlotte currently works from home for the National Autistic Society. She has also worked in television at the BBC on shows including ‘The Weakest Link’ and on consumer programmes such as ‘The Holiday Programme’. She has tutored children, including those with special educational needs.

Charlotte has also trained and  worked as a surf-life guard on the dangerous North Cornish Atlantic coast, dealing closely with the public and with the emergency services. She has been a gym instructor and leisure centre coordinator, and is a qualified swimming teacher, teaching children and adults of all abilities.

In her spare time, Charlotte enjoys swimming, surfing, running, writing, drawing, and listening to Bob Dylan. She also enjoys boxing when she can, and is President of the Avonmouth National Smelters Amateur Boxing Club.

To hear more about Charlotte and how she got into politics, click HERE

Charlotte’s political experience

Charlotte Leslie with David Cameron

Charlotte currently works from Bristol on education for the National Autistic Society and has worked with charities and organisations such as the Scouts.  Charlotte was the Conservatives’ special advisor on education when David Cameron took over the leadership of the Conservatives, and has worked on the party’s Public Services Policy Group Report.

She has written widely on her special interest, Education; writing for national papers such as the Daily Telegraph, and for a range for think-tanks, from the Social Market Foundation to the Adam Smith Institute. Her first publication, “More Good School Places”, written for Policy Exchange with James O’Shaugnessy,  has informed the policy of all three major parties.

She is the  editor of the Bow Group’s “Invisible Nation” research series, which spotlights the issues facing politically and socially neglected or forgotten corners of society and is also editor of the Bow Group magazine ‘Crossbow’.  She has writen for a wide range of national publications, including The Spectator, Prospect Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail and The Guardian.

On leaving university, she served as a Parish Councilor in Almondsbury and as secretary to Bristol West Deanery Synod.  She  subsequently worked with the Centre for Social Justice.

Conservatives Working for Bristol North West

Charlotte Leslie campaigning with FOSBR

“Bristol has consistently had the worst, or near worst education results in the country. The percentage of Bristol’s youth leaving school with no qualifications whatsoever is consistently around double the national average. It is little wonder that with that kind of education record, some parts of Bristol North West also suffer from anti-social behaviour problems and high levels of crime, drug and alcohol abuse.

I will make it one of my priorities to improve this disappointing record, and to make sure the great potential of the young people in Bristol North West does not go to waste.

Bristol North West is also the most socially diverse constituency in the city, with wards in the top and bottom 25% of national deprivation levels existing side by side. There must be no ‘no-go’ areas for today’s Conservatives.

I look forward to reaching out to communities who may feel forgotten, and I look forward to getting involved in community life and helping local community initiatives to flourish, particularly in The Places the Politicians Forgot.”

Map of Bristol North West ward boundaries

At the next general election the boundaries of Bristol North West will change to include the following wards: Avonmouth, Henbury, Henleaze, Horfield, Kingsweston, Lockleaze, Southmead, Stoke Bishop, Westbury-on-Trym.

Both the influential UK Polling Report and Plymouth University have produced research, based on which way the population of the new seat voted at the last General Election, which proves this constituency is a two horse race between Labour and Conservative.

Conservative Candidate Charlotte Leslie comments, “We can win Bristol North West, but only if we deliver on issues that matter to local people, and that is what I am determined to do.”

I thought I lived in Bristol West. What does this mean for me?

If you live in Henleaze, Westbury-on-Trym or Stoke Bishop, on the new election boundaries, you are no longer part of the old Bristol West, but part of the new Bristol North West, which is a Labour-held seat, by just over 1000 votes.

I already live in Bristol North West! -What’s the difference?

If you live in Avonmouth, Henbury, Kingsweston, Horfield, Southmead or Lockleaze, you are still part of Bristol North West like you always were, but a seat that this time has only a very narrow Labour majority – down to just 1000 votes.

This means that Bristol North West is one of the seats the Conservatives can win to kick Labour out of Government. The only way Labour can hang on now is if people vote for other parties, like Liberal Democrat.

In other words, in the General Election, voting Liberal Democrat is voting to help Labour to cling onto power.

Liberal Democrats have admitted defeat

Graph of proportion of vote per party

The Liberal Democrats’ own website has confirmed they expect to come third in this constituency. Their own website has stated there are only hundreds of votes between the Conservatives and Labour whilst their party trails thousands behind. In the most recent elections voters in Avonmouth, Henbury, Stoke Bishop and Westbury-on-Trym all elected Conservatives.

Listen to Charlotte talk about her life so far: from early aspirations to represent the City of Bristol Swimming Club in the Olympics, to life at University, the reality of work as a surf-life-guard, working with the BBC’s Anne Robinson and how she started out in politics.

Including Queen, Pink Floyd, a lesser-known poem by Bob Dylan, and from Faure to Kasabian…

To listen to Charlotte’s interview, CLICK HERE

About BCFM – 93.2 fm

Bristol Community FM has been broadcasting since 2007 – and in that time has expanded enormously. It is the city’s first community radio station and is no ordinary station – it offers access to airtime, direct community involvement and training for people across Bristol.

BCfm gives the city of Bristol the choice and the voice to get involved and make a difference.

Anybody can be involved with BCfm and on an average week there are around 45 different programmes being broadcast by many different types of people. They broadcast in about nine different languages and aim to represent the whole of Bristol and Bristol life, including Bristol’s local music.

You can find out more about BCfM by clicking HERE You can hear Charlotte’s interview by clicking the link below, or find the interview, along with others, on BCfM’s podcasts.

Listen to Charlotte’s interview

She was co-author of the influential Policy Exchange report, “More Good School Places”, (O’Shaugnessy, Leslie, 2005) which first advocated the ‘advantage premium’ – extra funding for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

To read the report, click HERE.