The General Election is fast approaching, and Sheffield’s candidates have been busy campaigning for your vote.
With political apathy increasing, understanding who you’re voting for and what they advocate is hugely important.
Forge Press approached every candidate for the Sheffield Central and Sheffield Hallam constituencies and offered them a chance to speak through their manifestos.
Sam Christmas, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Sheffield Central, accepted the request for an interview.
The Interview: Sam Christmas
Mr Christmas is a current councillor in the Dodworth ward of Barnsley, and the Deputy Leader of the Barnsley Liberal Democrats, having been elected as a councillor for the first time at the 2023 local elections.
After becoming interested in politics and business through his grandfather being the Leader of the Opposition on Barnsley Council, Mr Christmas worked at the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce for seven years, as well as at Made in Yorkshire.
“It seemed a natural fit that I would stand in Sheffield given the history and track record of working here for all those years, supporting businesses in the city centre over that time.
“I’m under no illusions it’ll be a real challenge to win the seat
“I think [Sheffield] is one of England’s best secrets, and [there was an] opportunity to come back here, to support the wider community, to help Sheffield get a fair deal.”
Mr Christmas said that he will once again be a student later in the year, as he enrols on a Masters course at the University of Sheffield.
“I will be a student in this city, and I hope to be the students’ MP on 5th of July.
“We believe that, not necessarily just our public services, are broken, but our politics is broken, there is so much cynicism and apathy around British politics.
“I speak to people on doors, they don’t know who to vote for and who to believe.
“Politicians should be held to a high standard and people should demand more from their politicians. They shouldn’t switch off.”
Mr Christmas said: “NHS and Social care sit at the heart of our policies: they are desperate for investment of money to recruit more staff, purchase more equipment, to fix crumbling buildings.”
Liberal Democrats are targeting that in four years time, anyone will be able to see a GP in 24 hours for emergency matters, and within seven days for non emergency matters – as well as a guarantee that all cancer treatment will begin within sixty days.
In terms of higher education policy, Mr Christmas said that the Liberal Democrats would reinstate maintenance grants for disadvantaged students immediately, as well as introducing lifetime skills grants.
All adults would have access to £5,000 immediately to “develop both personally and professionally”, through training and further education in the form of a skills grant.
Mr Christmas says that this would increase to £10,000 “when the public finances allow”.
“Boost the take up of apprenticeships, and degree apprenticeships especially, by guaranteeing that they’re paid at least the national minimum wage”
They would also work to encourage more people to apply for degree apprenticeships by removing the lower minimum wage for apprentices.
On housing, party policy is to build 380,000 new homes a year throughout the first parliament – “not many parties are talking about the housing crisis”.
Other changes in this area would include three year tenancies by default, and the banning of no fault evictions.
He said: “If we can solve social care and the NHS, it’ll get more people back into work, it gives economy a boost and we can then spend more on other public services.”
On climate change, Mr Christmas said the Liberal Democrats were committed to Net Zero by 2045 – and that some of the ways that they would go about doing this would be by planting 60 million trees a year, and implementing a deposit return scheme.
They would also ensure that all new homes built were zero carbon “to help reduce people’s energy bills”.
“The Liberal Democrats will put climate change at the heart of a new industrial strategy”.
The Candidates for the Sheffield Central constituency are:
Angela Argenzio – Green
Sam Christmas – Liberal Democrats
Isabelle France – Trade Union and Socialist Coalition
Caitlin Hardy- Workers Party of Britain
Abtisam Mohamed – Labour
Lucy Stephenson – Conservative
Annie Stoker – Social Democratic Party
Alison Teal – Independent
