General Election Telford focus: 'We need someone with a local passion like mine', says Labour candidate Kuldip Sahota
The general election is a "referendum on the future of the hospitals" according to its Labour candidate.
Kuldip Sahota, is the party's candidate for the Telford constituency, and the man hoping to unseat the first Conservative MP it has had in its history.
Formed in 1997, Telford was a Labour stronghold until 2015, when Lucy Allan was elected for the Conservatives.
But Kuldip, the former Telford & Wrekin Council leader, and ward member for Malinslee, said the borough has lost its local touch and he wants to fight for what is important to the people.
He said that it is the hospitals issue which encouraged him to first put his name forward as a candidate.
He also says, if elected, he would work to ensure that any Brexit deal will suit the businesses and traders of Telford, after having long discussions with companies about what their view of the future is.
And he and his party have been putting in the work to try and get voters back in the red, Kuldip has described campaigning as a "full time job" which he is conducting from the Labour party's headquarters in Telford.
He has been out campaigning for his party for weeks, long before he was announced.
He said: "It has been going quite well, the reason we made our number one priority the hospitals is because, when we are out meeting people, what they are asking is is what is going to happen.
"And we say, precisely, because there are all kinds of proposals, one being to downgrade the Women and Children's Centre and the A&E department at the Princess Royal Hospital.
"This is why I made it the central part of the campaign.
"Telford needs a 24/7, consultant led A&E department and on the other side it needs the same, a consultant led Women and Children's Centre."
And Kuldip says he is all about "policies over personalities" in this campaign and is focussing on what is important to Telford, rather than parties or Labour's standing in the national polls.
The 65-year-old was leader of the council from 2011 to April 2016, but stepped down to spend more time with his family.
He said: "When we're out I do hear things that concern me. I hear negative things but I don't like to focus on the negative.
"As council leader, my motto was respect, openness and honesty. I am only interested in what is important to Telford.
"I have lived in Telford for 51 years, I have been a councillor for almost 16 years and leader for five years.
"So many things happened in Telford on my watch, like Southwater and the MoD Donnington investment.
"Those are two things that I am most proud of from my time as leader.
"I think it was in 2010 that there was a proposal by the MoD to close Donnington and move the jobs to Bicester.
"When I became leader in 2011, we organised a meeting in Bristol with the civil servants and asked them to let us make our case.
"We put together a proposal and went back in six weeks. They told us they would look at it and get back to us.
"When I left that meeting with Bill McClements and the two officers, I punched the air because at least they were listening to us.
"We thought we had no hope because Oxfordshire was the former Prime Minister David Cameron's territory.
"To cut a long story short, the Fulfillment Centre at MoD Donnington opened last week, and those jobs are still there."
Kuldip, who became a grandfather for the first time in November, said what Telford needs from its MP is that local touch, someone who knows what the constituency needs.
He has received the backing of former Labour Telford MP, David Wright, who formerly gave his backing to the campaign at a meeting at the party's headquarters in Oakengates last night.
Born in India, he has lived in his home in Woodside Road, Ketley, for 51 years. March 8 marked the anniversary of his move from the Punjab in India.
He went to school in Hadley and studied at college in Telford before joining GKN Sankey’s in 1969.
He said: "When I was younger, I was talking to my Dad about whether to go to college or university and a friend said that I could go to Oxford.
"My dad said: 'No you need to get a job, Oxford is not the place for people like us.' And that was it.
"My dad died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975 and if he was to see me now, standing as an MP, he would not believe it."
He eventually left to set up his own business and has been married for almost 40 years to wife Sukhi who runs the Market Hall Cafe in Wellington, where Mr Sahota regularly helps out. He has two sons, Sundeep and Harprit.
He came to politics relatively late in life, joining the Labour party in his 40s, becoming a councillor for the first time at the age of 50.
Kuldip served on the Board of Governors of University of Wolverhampton for nine years, and was chair of the Telford & Wrekin West Mercia Policing Board between 2007 and 2011.
He says people still recognise him for his work with the council.
He said: "Locally we need someone with a local passion like mine, I know the DNA of Telford. All its economic issues, its social issues.
"If people vote for me I will fight for the people of Telford.
"Telford is my home town, the home town of four generations of Sahotas. When I came here in 1966, Telford was still being created.
"I've grown with Telford, I've seen it develop, you can't get more local than that."
