I sit down with Dylan Evans PCC Reform UK Bolton West

I sit down with Dylan Evans PPC Reform UK Bolton West.

We discuss the decline of the Constituency, the disconnect of the Political Class, and its unwillingness to engage to improve the constituency of Bolton West.
We discuss the growth in support of Reform UK in the North East and North West, the desire of people to be part of Lancashire and not greater Manchester.
Bolton Wests proud industrial History and Dylans vision for the area he wishes to serve as its Member of Parliament.

Dylan Evans Reform UK Bolton West
Email
Boltonwest@reformuk.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559181152116
Dylan Evans Reform UK Bolton West. Evans: Twitter/X is @DylEvans_

e [Music] [Music] thank you once again for joining me on the southernland report and for giving me your time I count it as a real privilege and as you know I am interviewing a number of the prospective parliamentary candidates for reform UK and I am delighted always exed when we are then interviewing young people who then Inspire us who are slightly a little bit older so I’m very very pleased to be bringing on to you Dylan Evans who is standing in the west Bolton constituency we will go through our usual geography lesson so there’s a few more slides to get through and uh and then we will have a wonderful conversation Dyan thank you so much for uh joining me on the southernland report it’s uh it’s great to meet you so thank you sir you too thanks for having me on and you’re not that old by the way so you’re as young as Dylan you can come on as many times as you want after that comment so bless you for that so let’s I’m going to start with my usual map and then we will focus in on the uh on the constituency and I know that we’re getting into geography that within our UK it can be a little bit controversial in how we describe it at times but that’s the wonderful history that we have so I’ll put this on and then you can begin to uh tell us where you are yes so we are Northwest England we are a Lancer town uh originally a Lancashire Town however we were taken out of Lancashire and lumped into the greater Manchester combined Authority the greater Manchester Administration in 1974 it’s uh it’s a bit of a sore spot for for people in Bolton many people tell me you know they don’t put greater Manchester as their uh as their address it’s laner it always has been and I think it’s it’s more than just kind of an identity issue it’s the fact that people were never asked and they were lumped into this Metropolitan kind of creation that has implemented things that people haven’t wanted and haven’t asked for like we’ve ended up with a a mayor of Greater Manchester that nobody asked for We’ve Ended up in the past and all they kind of put the uh put the brakes on it but we’ve ended up with things like the Clean Air Zone and uh it’s it’s something that I’m passionate about locally I uh I had the privilege of in introducing a petition of 3,000 signatures it could have been way more but we only needed two and a half thousand to bring it before the Council of people demanding a referendum to be back into fully back into the uh County of Lancashire as a unitary Authority where we run our own affairs that was there was a stop put to that by the the labor Council but yeah it’s it’s to answer your question we’re a Lancer Town through and through we’re proud to be so uh in case anyone thinks it’s greater Manchester it’s not brilliant and there is a lot more history that we could go into that is very very important to our nation as in any nation’s history and of course if you begin to remove that history then you’re beginning to remove the nation’s roots and I think that’s really important so Dylan brilliant you are standing in Bolton West could you describe to me the conversations that you are having as you are campaigning I mean we I’ve shown some wonderful pictures of you out there campaigning and uh and to see your your uh the reform UK boards in a couple of places well more than a couple of places but just illustrated by those pictures so what concerns are the constituents bringing to you sir so it all comes back to the immigration issue so whether we talk about housing you know that’s that’s something that I feel uh passionately about I I rent because I just simply can’t get on the housing ladder at the moment it’s it’s now I think about four five times the the average three times the average salary it used to be to to be able to to get on the housing ladder now it’s more like 10 times the average salary um so when I talk about housing it you you can’t talk about housing without addressing the amount of people that are coming here you can’t talk about GP appointments A&E waiting times traffic even the amount of cars that are now on the road without addressing so there’s many issues that we have spoken about with people in the constituency but it all seems to kind of come back to the the population explosion and that’s why we’ve kind of coined this the immigration election and I think in reference to the to the boards in in the beginning of the like I joined reform two years ago so there was a lot of kind of Silent reformers there was people that weren’t too sure whether we were the right party to vote for I think now especially since we’ve been going through the the roof in the polls people are starting to actually believe that we can get somewhere with reform so that’s why you seeing I mean my messaging uh my my Facebook my my emails my my Instagram my Twitter they’ve all been blown up with requests for boards we’ve actually today I’ve had to get back to somebody to let them know that we’ve run out so we’ve had to order more so it it really has it it’s taken off and actually at this point to say um be really good uh Dylan if you could say how can people get hold of you how how can they find you bya email Twitter Etc if people want to come and help you contribute to your campaign because every single C candidate is self is self-funded um so how how can people get a hold of you sir yes so my email is uh Bolton West reform.com so if you want to volunteer my social media my Twitter is Dill Evans uh if you want to give me a follow on that on Facebook it’s Dyan Evans for Bolton West brilliant and I will make sure that I put all of that in the description so you have clearly laid out including your personal circumstances which is which is renting because of the multiples needed to actually buy out get on the housing ladder because of the demands Etc so are people then you talk about the traffic and these are generaliz these are comments that are coming up and down up and down the country in many ways end up ticking the same similar things and I’m not putting words in your mouth because it’s what we are finding on the street so are people finding it difficult to get GP appointments um talk about some of the other infrastructure issues the whole debate about Mayes um and what you’ve said is is fascinating um do people feel they’re getting value for money by Council uh you’ve already alluded to the fact that they’re not being listened to so take it away please sir yes well I mean in terms of GP uh appointments I think one of the biggest scandals that isn’t being addressed is the fact that a lot of GPS are still doing phone only uh consultations that’s kind of a bit of a hold over from the pandemic and it’s something that I’ve been affected by personally I mean I’ve had family members who U I think of my my late a she uh she she had a spot on her nose that she was kind of concerned about and she she was in her 80s and her GP wouldn’t see her in person they said there was no need to to can you can you just send a selfie or can you just take a picture of it and send it to us she was 80 years old she didn’t have a mobile phone she didn’t know anything about going online and the the GP was trying to fobber off on um antibiotics because they weren’t that concerned so we had to essentially beg a GP to see her in person she was only down the road and when they did they said ah actually that that does look a bit um you know serious bit more serious so they Center for a biopsy and it ended up being skin cancer I mean the fact that GPS are refusing to see patients in person if you can speak to a a patient over the phone for 10 minutes you can see them in person for 10 minutes and that’s that’s a big thing I think that doesn’t cost billions extra to to bring in a law that says you need to be seeing your patience in person you know we’re not just numbers that you know we’re not we’re not just uh kind of calls that you need to get through there’s there’s real people here that are unfortunately being misdiagnosed and mistreated uh but in terms of the overall again the overall numbers it is hard to to to get a gp’s appointment and uh you know I regularly if I ever have to ring a GP get through and you even if you’re ining at 8:30 you are number 87 in the queue it’s it’s it’s ridiculous um so yeah so people are really struggling to to get a hold of Public Services that they’re paying for um that brings me on to the point about council tax your question are people getting value for the money no we’re not we’re not getting value for our money in fact we’re getting less for more money uh they’ve recently across greater Manchester they’ve uh raised council tax by the max allowed uh so in many burough they’ve raised it by 4.99% and what a lot of people don’t know is that if the council were to raise it by 5% or more they have to give you a ref they have to have a referendum and give you the decision on whether you’re okay with it or not so that kind of that angers me because it it it shows that they despise us that much that they’re going to raise it by just 4.99% just below uh the amount that they have to ask your permission uh to to raise it by so so yeah so people don’t feel like they’re getting value for money our services are being cut yet our elected officials wages are going up uh so yeah we we we do need we do need reform uh you know candidates getting in who are actually addressing these issues who actually calling it out for what it is and you’ve already talked about like the greater Manchester area and all and all the sort of layer of management that that brings in so and of course quite rightly when you know sadly in your aunt’s case when 80 plus and then feel as though they’re on the end of a phone or they’re having to talk to a different doctor that they talked to last time and then having to explain themselves all over again this becomes extremely stressful um I think on on their mental capabilities as well so there’s a a concern there is a strain on that strain on on uh on housing um how within uh Bolton West how much of the makeup of the area is it is it a number of towns Urban Farmland what what kind of mixture is there yes so there’s a a picture of of everything we’ve got uh towns we’ve got kind of more urban areas as you start heading into to the town center uh but yeah again the housing issue we can talk about how many houses we need to build and of course we do need to build houses but it’s it’s if if we don’t get a grip of the uh the overall numbers of people coming here then you you know we we could be building five million homes every year and it wouldn’t touch the sides and obviously that would have then a detrimental effect on the nice little towns that we have and kind of keeping them uh as as they are at the moment the the kind of historic buildings that we have um if if we don’t get a grip on the the overall figures then we are going to struggle to to keep our towns the way they are um so yeah we we’ve gotten a mixture we’ve got some nice Market areas uh but again markets are going down uh footfall is is is going down steadily because people don’t have any money in the pocket so you’re not going to want to go to the market if you’re uh if if you skin you you’re going to be going once a week to the supermarket and that’s it so we we do have a thriving kind of community there is a of a there’s a lot of we’re a proud Town there’s a lot of community Spirit but yeah unfortunately people are are certainly feeling feeling the pinch at the moment how much of the area was a a brexit voting uh area or a remain voting area do have you got an idea of the voting split yeah off off the top of my head it’s it’s about I think it was 56 uh percent leave so so it’s majority leave U all all of Bolton the three constituencies uh in in bson we will leave so yeah it’s it’s an area that again that’s another conversation that comes up on the doorstep that whether whether they’re people that were remainers um it’s you know that even people who didn’t want us to leave are kind of saying we need to just get this over and done with now can we please move on from this conversation and the people that did vote for brexit because of the opportunities that uh we believed it would provide their outrage because one of the biggest issues for people to vote brexit was that we could have uh tighter control over our immigration system and it’s got worse since we’ve left uh trade is is going down uh in in many areas and we’ve not taken kind of we’ve not taken the opportunities that that brexit has has provided so that’s certainly something that comes up on the doorstep people feeling like their Democratic decision uh the largest Democratic decision in this country’s history hasn’t been honored and of course the debate is have we have we really left uh that that’s the yeah absolutely and without again without uh putting putting words in your mouth Dyan I’m interested in this as well do people you’ve discussed Manchester you’ve discussed the greater Manchester area you’ve then you’ve talking about um the fact that they would then need to the council need to have a referendum um by raising the council tax and just keeping it under 5% and quite and then the referendum in regard to being in Lancashire as a county do people feel that where you are again in regard to Westminster that there’s a huge gap between Westminster London the London bubble and Bolton West do they is there a huge right how does what do people Express over that how do they express that so in in terms of the the referendum it it would only ever be advisory as well if if for for whatever reason the the labor run uh Bolton Council changed the mind and actually allowed people to have some democracy uh and and held the referendum it would still only be advisory it would require an act of parliament to uh sort of restructure the makeup of of uh of a council um so so yeah there is a bit of a disconnect between people locally that’s why I I’m also involved with reform on a local level uh we we have an alliance with uh a party called Bolton for change which was founded by a man called Trevor Jones who’s also the reform candidate for for Bolton Northeast so we’ve we’ve been active arguably we’ve been active in Bolton longer than than reforms been been going uh so we’ve certainly been championing the local issues but you’re right people this is the argument that I made people on a local level really at the end end of the day and okay stammer and and rishy sunaker on our TV every day but your actual day-to-day life is affected at a local level it’s how clean your streets are it’s how how many police officers uh are on the streets it’s how safe you feel walking walking down the street it’s it’s how often your bins get collected it’s such minor stuff whether there’s potholes or or whatever on your road but it’s all affected most of that is affected at a local level now of course issues like immigration into the country overall taxation that’s that’s the job of Parliament but really local politics I would argue is is almost more important but sadly people feel the turn out shocking for for local elections people don’t feel like it’s necessary to go out and and vote for a local election or I’m not quite sure maybe it’s just people just feel disillusioned but that’s that’s one thing that we’re we’re trying to battle against it’s uh when when someone feel so apathetic they they’re not going to be convinced by another person saying well I’m but it’s it’s the message that we’ve been trying to Champion locally is the power is in your hands and when in some Wards in Bolton in some Wards in Bolton West the turnout’s 25% well if that other 75% knew that they could turn out and actually put a stop to half the stuff that’s going on then we could actually make change so that’s uh that’s something that we’re we’re trying to to drive up locally we’re trying to get the motivation there uh and and make people feel like they have the power to change things because at the end of the day whether I do get elected or not I’m hoping that I do but if I do I’m I’m I’m a public Ser I would be a public servant I’m I’m doing this it’s supposed to be a humbling experience I know you get a title and you get you know a fancy office and and all this but at the end of the day you’re going there to to serve the people and and I think unfortunately in recent years especially in the last two or three I’d argue it’s become less about that and and more about personality types and and characters and I think we need to get back to to a point where people feel an actual connection to the people that are representing them and they feel like their interests are actually being represented what opportunities are you are you having um to to debate with other with other uh parties about what their policies are going to be are there have you got hustings have you been able to have any TV coverage press press coverage because you rais a very important point which is down to the individual constituency the individual concerns of the constituency instead of then being a sort of a media then that’s just focused in a bubble that we then called London I don’t want to put words in your mouth but it’s just trying to reflect reflect back so what opportunities are you being given to speak I know you’re out on the streets just talk about that well we uh we do have a hostings coming up on uh Monday the 24th and it’s been hosted by Nick Robinson so uh who who recently locked horns with Nigel FR so I’m looking forward to that uh that there has been it’s it’s been few and far between I don’t want to get too uh conspiratorial but I do think that there has been a bit of a blackout when it comes to reform UK uh we’ve been underestimated in the polls consistently over I mean in the Northwest we’ve we’ve known that we’ve been ahead of the conservatives for months now it’s it’s just been a case of when is the media finally going to admit that so there has been dribs and drabs I’ve I’ve done you know Zoom calls with with different people but I’ve I’ve not had journalists clamoring to to come and speak to me because I I do think there’s a little bit of uh wanting to to keep it as a two- horse race uh between labor and conservatives and kind of drowns out but I think with with somebody like farage coming back on board uh that’s becoming harder and it’s becoming harder and harder for them to ignore us no I I uh I hear you so we’ve gone we’ve gone through quite understandably housing GPS what about and I had this uh discussing with uh Rob uh barcliffe um the other day what about sports facilities you know swimming pool gym all of that is there also um I don’t know if you had this discussion yet do parents feel that there’s a strain on school places to get their children into the schools that they wish to go to and and then if we move into you know apprenticeships jobs opportunities for young people and how we want to re rewrite that and redefine that what are your thoughts sir yeah so in in terms of school places one of the big things now that people are worrying about is if they’re going to be able to send their kids to a private school um with the recent kind of admission that they that labor are going to raise VAT on on private schools because we have to remember that’s not going to impact the super rich the super Rich aren’t going to be that bothered about a few percentage increase in the fees it’s going to be workingclass families that have managed to save up enough to send their son or daughter to a good school they’re go they’re going to be the ones that are going to pay the price and then they are going to have to send their kids to the state school system which again is going to put a burden on the state system and and it’s just a a ridiculous cycle that we’re going to end up in where you’re punishing people for not using the state system punishing people for not being a burden on the state system and then making them become a burden on the state system so yeah there’s there’s serious concern about what impact that’s going to have uh class sizes are already too big as is children are missing out on on proper education when they’re when they’re in classes of 30 plus it’s uh it is it’s ridiculous but in terms of kind of opportunities for for young people again there there isn’t that much for young people to want to hang on to in in places like like bolon because they see a better life abroad in places like Dubai they see a better life abroad in in places like America we need to try and make our town an attractive place to want to do business an attractive place to want to set your roots um down in and and yeah unfortunately I don’t I don’t see that happening with the big two at the moment they they’ve had we we have the advantage as well in Bolton of of having a conservative MP and a labor run Council so we we’ve sort of seen both offerings if you like and and they haven’t really offered uh anything they’ve not really changed anything so yeah I think it’s time for some some fresh ideas when it comes to uh to to how we go about creating opportunities for young people I don’t want to put words in your mouth which is one of my regular phrases or even just to start point you know chucking brick bats at the opposition in that sense but do people feel that they that their local Member of Parliament is not in touch with at all do they feel that there is no access or as you’ve said I mean are they a are they a candidate who was parachuted into the area have they got any local links with the area uh well I have had people contact me again I’m you know I won’t badmouth the the current MP too much um I I will just say that I I have had people contact me who have had who have tried contacting his office about various different things I had a a lady recently that is uh is disabled and she’s concerned about she she requires um mobility scooter and there’s flags that are kind of all all over the place and her road has now become inaccessible and that’s her little bit of Independence is is going out you know otherwise she she would be bedbound um and she she has she has carers uh she she’s being denied being able to go out and and uh you know visit visit uh the Shops and and and what have you she’s contacted the uh the sitting MP and apparently has had had no response she’s also contacted the labor candidate who uh she told me made made reference to the fact that we we can’t uh do anything about the the setup at the moment because we have to be worried about the environmental impacts or or or something so yeah but I’ve had I’ve had people contact me who um have tried uh getting in touch with the people in power at the moment and and they’ve not they’ve not delivered it’s it’s hard for me because again I’m I’m not in the position yet to do anything about it I mean if take that case for example if I was the MP I’d be talking about this in Parliament I’d be talking I’d be you know locking horns with the council saying you need to get this sorted because it’s not fair that you’ve got somebody who’s got a disability who’s been denied the ability to go out and uh and you know live live a somewhat decent life uh because you can’t be be bothered pulling pulling your finger out as they say uh to to fix up the area so yeah there there’s been a whole host of of people contact me about various different things about promises that have been made and uh yeah that that that theme of promises made but promises broken that we’ve seen over the last few years so yeah i’ I if if I’m to get in I’m not I’m not going to make a whole raft of of pledges that I can’t keep uh but I do want to be contactable I’ve I have pledged that if I was to be elected I’d make sure that every constituent whether they voted for me or not has my personal number so that they can contact me because again you need to have that contact with with the person uh that that’s your representative in Parliament I’m supposed to be their representative to air any grievances that they have with the government so I need to be contactable and unfortunately there’s uh there seems to be again it goes back to that disconnect how are PE are people amazed at the fact that you as this incredible young person are wanting to get involved in the uh in the political fight are they are they amazed at that or are they very encouraged by that a bit bit of both uh yeah I do get a bit of wow you’re you’re quite young to be doing this but also I think for the the older generation uh especially when I speak to to people that have fought for this country you know it gives them a little bit of of optimism because I think there’s this stereotype that that young people are so ungrateful and uh they don’t really care about the country but it is it is our country as well you know we we are the the reason that I’m involved in in in politics is because I see this country in in 20 30 years time being a completely different country to what we have now I mean when I was born it was the norm to be able to have a family have a house and pay your bills and maybe take the kids away for for a couple of times a year on one salary now that’s a pipe dream for for millions of people and it’s a regular occurrence where you’ve got both the boys and girlfriend or or whatever working full-time renting and they they’re not getting to to experience the life that was was kind of the norm 30 years ago I I say this a lot I’d give anything to be my age 30 years ago because you could afford to have a family you could afford a house and that’s why I have a personal disdain for this term the cost of living I know it’s the term that we use when we talk about the economic situation but it implies that there should be an inherent cost just to be able to live that it should be a burden just to be able to get by I don’t agree with that with the sixth largest economy in the world there should be no reason why people that are working full-time doing the right thing would be struggling to pay their bills so uh yeah when when when people ask me about my age and and and why I want to do it it’s because that’s what I want for my friends that’s what I want for my family and I I intend on setting my roots down here in places like Bolton I want to be able to to to say I thought to to make Bolton a place where we can set our rots down just like uh kind of older generation did uh so yeah it is a bit of a surprise to people when when I do tell them that I’m that I’m 26 but I’m I’m in it for the long run and I think I would rather I’ve only been campaigning for a couple of years but I think I’d rather have two years of doing it right as I see it than 20 years of Doing It Wrong well I commend you for it and I I thank you I thank you for that because one of the privilege for me in doing this is I’m meeting some incredible young people and I could not have said it any any uh better in the way that you did I think the way that the redefining the cost of living and not being a burden and that again is words isn’t it that people are push are pushing um I think what you’ve said is extremely profound there just a brilliant way of of pressing that and I think as well it I mean I could talk to you for hours about how I think we’re declining as a culture as a society I mean if you look at buildings for example that we’re making now the they’re horrible the’re the’re empty soulless lifeless glass boxes that are purposely there just to to maximize capacity for some Corporation we’re not building anything anymore to because it’s for it sheer Beauty to be impressive we’re just building things just to be commercial units and I think that has a knock on effect on a community I think that has a knock on effect on a society there’s a reason that when towns and cities were being built hundreds of years ago the first thing they built was an impressive church or an impressive town hall because it centered and you built the community outwards from that because it centered you around something you felt connected to the to the architecture of your town uh you know art for example you look at paintings nowadays 500 years ago there were there were they were painting the cine Chapel there were beautiful pieces of of art being created now someone throws a bucket at a wall and and they call that art and same with music I can’t think of a single song in the top 10 at the moment that will be played in in 40 years 50 years time so there’s a whole host of things that I think we’re we’re declining as a as a culture as a society but you can’t afford to think about those things literally and figuratively if you can’t afford your bills if you can’t if you’re worrying do I pay my council tax this this month or do I get ahead on my on my gas bill you you can’t think about the the bigger things so that’s why I feel so passionate passionately about the tax policies that we have because we need to take that burden off people so to make them feel like they are kind of part of the the community and not just some uh something to be drained by by the the tax system so yeah I do think um the the big thing for me obviously is is tax uh kind of taking that burden off people but yeah it it does have a detrimental impact on on society when uh people don’t feel kind of connected to their area anymore because if they’ve got more money in their pocket then they’ve got more money to decide with what they want to do with that and then that tax is out there buying goods buying things Etc and then tax revenue comes in in fact very often more tax revenue will come in in in that way and you’re able to then fire up the economy do you how do within Bolton West how do you get from having a sort of wealth distribution mindset to then creating wealth what are what is the history of Bolton in the past what are what do you think the opportunities are in the future if we’re able to unleash all this creativity what you’ve said about painting and art again is extremely extremely profound what what are your thoughts on that um well again we’re historically we were an old uh mil toown a cotton producing town uh Samuel crompton’s one of our probably most famous Sons uh created the the the spinning mule I think it was called uh so we are we’re an industrious people I know we’ve de-industrialized a lot over the over the last few decades but there is that kind of that kind of productive capacity there that that’s just not being not being utilized it’s why when we talk about the the the need to bring in foreign workers it frustrates me so much because essentially what the narrative is at the moment is that British people are too lazy to work the low paying jobs so we’re too we’re too lazy and arrogant to to be taxi drivers or to stack shelves or to work in farms but we’re also a bit too thick to do the the high paying jobs the the computer scientists the computer analysts and and and and so on I think that’s that seems to be the prevailing Narrative of our entire political class I think the complete opposite I mean we are the the the country that started the Industrial Revolution specifically here in the north that took people from going from having to use outside toilets and dying from diseases at the ages of 30 uh to where we are now where every single one of us has a device in our pocket has the known history of the Universe on it that started with the Industrial Revolution that started here so we do have that ability we do have that capacity to to be the the next leaders of of whatever the next Revolution might be whatever whether it’s technology or whatever we have that capacity but we just don’t seem to have a government that wants to empower the people to to do that anymore so yeah in terms of wealth creation again it goes It goes back to Taxation and you don’t create you don’t grow your way out of uh the economic situation that we’re in through tax you know you don’t make your business grow by increasing your prices all all you do is is you turn away new investment if you run I mean not to get too too technical but if you run a pub and say you charge4 pound a pine and you kind of struggling with with custom you you’re barely tiing over you don’t attract more business by sticking a sign outside that says the pints were £4 now they’re £6 all that does is make people say well not going to go there they they’ve hiked their prices and then the people that are already in your Pub are going to start leaving and and and wanting to find somewhere else to do business and that that then that has a knock on effect on your staff I know that’s a very oversimplified way of looking at the sixth largest economy in the world but the sentiment is the same you you you don’t create we’ve we’ve tried it before in our past and it’s never worked you know socialists will always tell you that well that was never real socialism but it was it does not work you don’t grow the economy you don’t create wealth by taxing people to death I hear you I hear you Dylan can you give an overview just let me know how grow going from a point of how people are greeting you on the street the feedback you’re going and as we were talking off camera beforehand what what’s the mood in the constituencies around you the mo the mood then in the Northeast in regard to uh how they’re viewing uh reform UK and how how well the part the party is doing as you are a really important wonderful young person on the ground that no one no one can argue with what you’re about to say because this is your personal experience well I have noticed certainly in the last few weeks that uh the the profile of Reform has just gone through the roof um everybody knows who we are now that was that was the big issue two years ago when we’ve been knocking on doors people got what you know reform what does that stand for now people know who we are it’s very encouraging as well that the youth vote is starting to now recognize what reforms about there was a a poll that came out just I think yesterday uh from Redfield and and Wilson that showed that reforma now in second place amongst 18 to 24 year olds that was always considered a demographic that you could never be competitive in now we’re we’re second place and we’re on the rise we compared to last week I think it was we’re up nine points all the other parties are down in in in that demographic so there’s a real excitement in terms of my reception we’ve had people like I said earlier just requesting boards left right and Center they’re they putting flags up they’re wanting to get involved now and so there’s a real sort of sense of enthusiasm and overall I think in the Northwest there’s some seats that are very winnable now for reform because of various different things because of our momentum but also because of some issues that are being ignored I think of Ashton I know you spoke to to to Rob uh last time but his seat is is not very winnable for for reform because of the Workers Party candidate that’s standing against Angela R so that’s going to eat into Angela raina’s vote so even though the polling is showing she’s on 50% and the others meaning the Workers Party are on 0% in reality she’s on about 30ish perc and the workers party are on about 10 or 15 and if we’re on 25% plus suddenly it becomes a very winnable area for reform so I know there’s certain areas that that are going to take up all the Press Nigel frage is standing in claton I know that’s obviously going to be sort of the big one that everyone watches to see if he gets in but there’s some some very interesting seats again the same situation is happening in Bolton South and Bolton Northeast where again there’s a very large demographic within the traditional labor voting block that have turned their backs on labor so if conservatives or just anti- labor voters from 2019 got behind reform UK in the Northwest there’s some seats where we might pull off some surprises I also think of rotheram as well I think where the uh conservatives haven’t stood a candidate for the first time since 1930 they’ve for whatever reason they missed the deadline so there is no Conservative candidate in Rother room if you look at 2019 at what the brexit party got if you add the conservatives and the brexit party together you get about a 4,000 majority so there’s some seats now that are very very winnable for reform and I think uh the polling eventually will catch up and will reflect that but I think people need to go out and at first it was considered a protest vult that wouldn’t get you anywhere it was kind of a just send a message to to the government but now if we can send if we can send a strong block of MPS into Parliament with millions of votes then that’s a mandate for change that’s a mandate to to reform our electoral system to make it truly Democratic because the idea that we could get 6 million votes and a handful of MPS and the Liberals can get 10 million votes and get 60 MPS is is just ridiculous you’ve got parties like the S&P again they they they’ll get about a million votes but about 20 MPS so our our electoral system isn’t representative at the moment if we’re able to get a strong block of MPS led by someone like Nigel farage along with millions of votes then then I think we’ll start to see some change very very interesting I do I I do apologize I should have said the Northwest and not the Northeast looking at the geography lesson of where you are so I just ask for big uh forgiveness from the wonderful people of langage here I I have to give a shout out to the people in the Northeast then because that’s that’s again another area where we’re doing quite well um places like Harley poool places like that we we’ve we’ve got some very strong teams we’ve got com committed teams I’m I can’t tell you the buzz there was when when the polls finally admitted uh that we were ahead of the conservatives it there’s there’s a real passion among reform UK candidates and and the hundreds of volunteers that you don’t hear about the thousands of members that you don’t hear about there’s a real Buzz that we can actually achieve something because before reformer in the race there was sort of this feeling that it was voting for the least worst option well you know I don’t really like K dama but he seems a little bit less bad than Rishi sunak it’s like you know is that what we’ sunk to as a as a country that pick me because I’m I I might be a little less bad than the other guy we we deserve better than that we deserve to be able to vote for something we might you might not agree with all of reform’s policies but at least we’re offering people something to vote for some common sense policies so yeah I think that’s now being reflected I think people are recognizing that and uh yeah I think when July the 4th comes around we’ll we’ll see some surprises and hopefully I’m one of them of course amen but to that you’ve given a wonderful explanation of various other you know the other people the other par is running how the percentages are going and all the rest and I hope I know it sounds that people are really beginning to pay attention attention to that one of your as you’ve said one of your biggest challenges is to get the vote out and of course there’s the postal vote that are coming out at at any day if not already and when you when you’ve quite rightly said you there’s their party machines between these two horse race um I think it says a lot when if the conservative party are not actually putting candidates forward um within they’re not that they’re not I don’t think rodam is just the only one sorry BR was just the only one there are other areas so you are very much paying attention giving a wonderful overview to what to what’s going on and I understand that you were helping one of your fellow uh candidates today but with Rob so in the last couple of minutes could you describe what what’s happening where’s the this wonderful cross fertilization of help is that happening again it’s it’s it’s all Grassroots it’s all voluntary it’s all you know can you lend a hand this day can you lend a hand that day um we we don’t have the the numbers that labor and conservatives do they’ve been they’ve been around for hundreds of years they can click their fingers and they can have two 200 activists in a constituency just like that we don’t have that yet because we’re we’re a small party we’re we are growing uh hopefully in in five years time we will be that in in in that situation they’ve also got data they know how you your granddad voted you know they know whether you your great Granddad was a maybe or whether he was a strong voter so they they they can be a lot more targeted we’re kind of knocking on doors not knowing who these people have voted for in the past and we we’re trying to strike up genuine conversations I personally think that’s that’s the best way to to do it it may not be the most effective but I I think you should you shouldn’t just avoid it all because oh they didn’t vote for my party last time you you should want to convince those people as well because if you were to be elected you’d also be representing them so uh it has it has been very Grassroots it it is especially for some of us that are newer to politics it’s been a challenge but again we we there’s this overwhelming feeling amongst especially the young reform candidates that we’re we’re in this for the right reasons and there’s a real Buzz and there’s a real optimism so yeah we’re all getting on board with each other’s campaigns some of the guys are going to come down and help me um over the weekend when we do a table day so so that’ll be fun so yeah there is there’s a real kind of uh there’s a feeling that it’s not just about anyone candidate anyone person it’s about oh or even the party it’s about the country it’s about what we’re standing for and what we’re fighting for I hear you very loudly how do you think um how are you going to handle Nick Robinson Nick Robinson and this husting sounds a very wonderful opportunity um and quite exciting in that regard so I know there’s a few lessons that you can draw on very recently so how are you going to handle that I think I won’t get a word in uh I I think the I’ve I’ve seen Nick Robertson’s style um not to bash the guy before I meet him but he he does seem to to like to interview himself so I I don’t know whether or not I will actually get to say that much hopefully and I hope it’s a it’s an interesting debate I hope it’s uh relevant to the people that are there again it’s in the constituency so hopefully actual voters are going to to to hear what we’re doing for them rather than just kind of national talking points uh but look I’m I’m aware that it may be a bit of a might be a bit of a stitch up I’m going to be in for some tough questions I’m just going to do my homework I’m I’m going to make sure that I I I uh and nor my stuff going into it but at the end of the day I’m not worried about doing stuff like that because I feel like I’m doing this for the right reasons I’m not doing this because I want to try and pull the wool over people’s eyes so that kind of gives me an internal confidence if you like that uh you know I I don’t have a a voting record that I have to try and make excuses for I don’t have to to I don’t have promises that I made five 10 years ago that I never kept so I’m I’m a newbie to this but I’m I’m in it for the right reasons I think reform of the best policies I think we’re winning people over in their droves so I think the hustings it may be a bit hostile maybe whatever you know it’s a BBC thing we we’re we’re also saying that if we get a grip we’re going to defund the BBC so I’m not surprised that uh that they’re not not fans of Reform Dyan as I said it’s a it’s It’s a Wonderful opportunity for you to deal with um but you’re right but what you’re saying is is absolutely right in regard to being able to get word with publicized we see we I think we can see how certain things are being steered all I can do is is encourage you to make sure that there are a number of people in the room to support to support you and and to ra to raise those issues and be verbal about that but it just sounds no this would be excellent so as we end and I just want to thank you for your time Dylan where where can can you remind people where they can find you and I again I will put that in the description but how can people find you how can they come and to do that to come and help you yes so again uh my email is Bolton West reform.com uh Facebook I am Dylan Evans for Bolton West uh Twitter I am or X as it’s called now I am Dill underscore uh so yeah please do get in touch if you want to uh to help if you want to volunteer it all hands on deck we uh we we certainly need to this this final couple of weeks we really need to push to get the word out and uh we we may be on track to achieve something pretty historic brilliant Dylan I I want to so thank you for your time thank you for uh the inspiration that you bring and inspiring as a without without sounding patronizing I don’t mean it by being an incredible young person and you’re absolutely right the we’re very often charred with a particular brush which is actually not true so I I thank you for that and as also when I interviewed Rob as well said that um it is inspiring and there are others so thank you very much and Dylan if there’s anything else you want to say before I play us out please don’t leave me I’ll say I’ll say goodbye to you officially on the other side but is there any anything that uh anything else that you would like to say well I I just want to say a massive thank you to yourself for the time it’s uh it’s refreshing to actually have these long form discussions I think that’s actually how you get to thres out ideas if I could send one message to people that that are a little bit undecided I would say vote for something don’t vote against we would argue if you want Common Sense immigration policy vote for reform if you know what a woman is vote for reform if you want lower taxes vote for reform and I think people need to vote for reform like the country depends on it because it does thank you well said well said sir and uh thank you for your thank you for your kind words I find this a privilege to do because I’m meeting some incredible people in The Amazing country called the United Kingdom so thank you I’m going to I’m going to play us out uh Dylan so thank you very much indeed [Music]