Support my campaign to be your Labour MP for Romford
Dr Ben Molyneux
I grew up in Romford and I’m proud to serve our community as a local GP. As a Romford GP, I know the damage the Tories are doing to the NHS. As a Romford resident, I have seen how the Conservatives are letting Romford down. I have worked in the NHS for over 20 years, so I am not a career politician. I’m standing to be your Parliamentary candidate because I want to help get a Labour government to unlock the potential of Romford. If selected as your Parliamentary candidate I would work day in and day out to get Romford the Labour MP it needs.
ABOUT ME
I grew up in Romford and I’m proud to serve our community as a local GP. As a GP, I know the damage the Tories are doing to the NHS. As a local resident, I have seen how the Tories are letting Romford down. I have worked in the NHS for over 20 years, so I am not a career politician. I’m standing to be your Parliamentary candidate because I want to help get a Labour government to unlock the potential of Romford.
My first job was as a waiter at the Brewery in Romford, and I worked as a healthcare assistant at Oldchurch Hospital (before it was rebuilt as Queens Hospital) to pay my way through medical school. I was the first person in my family to go to university. I’m sure my grandparents could never imagine having a doctor in the family when they moved here from the East End in the 1950s. Now I work locally as a GP in the community helping people just like my grandparents.
In 14 years of Tory government, through their austerity and pandemic response, I’ve seen the NHS suffer terribly, and I know the awful impact this has had on my patients, my family, friends and neighbours. Two immediate family members were failed by an overburdened NHS with delayed cancer diagnoses, and both times I had to take them to hospital myself when they became sick while waiting. Every time I see a patient in pain who is waiting for an operation or who has waited too long to see me as their GP, it makes me upset, and it makes me angry because it doesn’t have to be this way. Our public services need proper funding, respect and political will to restore them.
Since starting work as a doctor, I have always been active supporting fellow doctors through my union, the British Medical Association. I’ve campaigned hard to challenge the Tories’ approach to the NHS and minimise the damage to doctors and patients.
Being a GP, working for the public, and campaigning in the NHS has given me the skills a good MP needs. I talk to my neighbours and patients everyday about what concerns them, whether it’s their housing issues, or a problem with the school, or not feeling safe walking home at night. I hope I can contribute my skills and experience from working on the NHS frontline to a Labour government’s work to rebuild it. I’ve been a Labour activist since 2015, I can see the damage austerity has done to this country, and I want to be part of the change to fix it. Our public services, our economy, our communities need better from our leaders.
If selected as your Parliamentary candidate, I would work day in and day out to get Romford the Labour MP it needs. Romford deserves better, and together, we can do better.
MY VISION FOR ROMFORD
Romford has so much going for it. We have the best of both worlds with both countryside and the excitement of London on our doorstep. I feel lucky to live here, but I think it could and should be better.
Romford has changed a lot since my childhood visiting the Dolphin swimming pool and Romford market. And, in the next 20 years it will continue to change as the population of Havering is expected to grow significantly. We can’t change that, but we can and should plan for it. If elected I would work with the council on a decent home building programme with generous green spaces and opening more GPs and schools to support it.
I would lobby to invest in Romford market to make it a destination for surrounding areas, bringing in customers, creating jobs and reviving our town centre. The mayor of London skipped over Havering with his recent transport announcements so I would lobby for the bus hyper loop to extend to Havering to connect our borough. I would also support a bid to make Havering the London borough of culture as this drives investment and we know that supporting the arts benefits us and our kids.
I would support efforts to make Romford a welcoming place with an inclusive culture. Whether that’s our physical environment cleaning up the high street planting trees to make our public spaces more appealing, or our public buildings so that they become the heart of the community. A lot of our buildings are underutilised, and I would look to combine services like libraries and children’s services in the same site for example.
20 years in the NHS
Extensive policy and media experience
MY EXPERIENCE
As a local GP I have worked across most of North East London, including Queens and King George’s hospitals. In that time I’ve learned what people in Romford want from services and what we need to do better for our people.
I have been a senior officer of the British Medical Association for 13 years. In that time I negotiated a new national contract for junior doctors, led us out on strike in 2012, and was a key part of the covid response ensuring that the government kept patients and staff safe in the pandemic.
I have over a decade of health policy experience, and in that time I’ve appeared on BBC and Sky News, BBCR4, Newsnight and other plus many print articles.
I am the current acting chair of the Romford constituency labour party (CLP) having served as vice chair, and campaign coordinator previously. I have been an activitist since 2015 leading on Romford campaigning, and prior to that supporting Redbridge CLPs.
If you would like to know more about my knowledge and experience, please feel free to get in touch below.
MY PRIORITIES
I am passionate about ensuring Romford achieves its potential. Here are some of the areas I feel are most important:
Education
Every parent wants the best for their child, but the current Tory government have slashed school budgets to the point it is affecting lessons. Havering has the most overweight children in London, and schools have an important part to play in giving our kids the best start in life. I would lobby for free school meals for all children to give them a hot nutritious meal every day. I would also work with the council to support plans for a new special education needs school to avoid unecessary long cab journeys out of the area.
Housing
Having a safe space to call home is a fundamental right for us all. There aren’t currently enough homes in Romford, and we need to make the right decisions to create homes people want to make their lives in, not stacks of small flats with tiny windows people want to leave. As your MP I would lobby Havering for sensible housing plans that allow space for families, decent services like GPs and schools to serve them, and a commitment to building social housing at fair rents for local people.
Health and Care
I know very well just how much help the NHS in Romford needs. 12 hour waits in Queens A&E, too few GPs to see you when you are sick, not enough carers when people need help at home. I would be your best advocate for change as Romford MP. Politicians need to rally behind the NHS and make sensible investments to keep us all healthy. We need a National Care Service, and we need more doctors and nurses to look after you.
Climate Change
Nothing is more important to our future than having a planet that is safe for us to live in. I would work with Havering Council towards making us a net zero borough. I would lobby to raise legislation in Parliament to mandate the installation of solar or wind in all new public buildings, and introduce subsidies for residents who want to install solar at home. Investing in renewables will lower prices for us all while making the planet a better place for our children.
Crime
We all want to feel safe at home, and out and about in Romford. Police must investigate the plague of car crimes happening in our area to stop the car theft industry that’s sprung up in our town. I would support Havering council to fund local police to be visible on our streets, and to introduce manned police units for residents to feel they can easily contact the police.
MY PLEDGES
•I will be an active, visible MP, who lives in Romford
•I will campaign all year round, to secure Labour in Romford for the future
•I will work with our Labour councillors to effect positive change at Havering Council
•I will have a fully-staffed constituency office which represents the diversity of the area and is responsive to residents
PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF THE FOLLOWING
Testimonials
What do others think?
Ben is hardworking and committed to making Romford a better place. He puts helping others at the forefront of what he does.
Thinking of Ben as MP for Romford makes me excited for its future.
Hope Wilson-Mendy
Chair Romford CLP
As an East London GP I have worked with Ben for a number of years trying to support general practices and improve care for local people. To this end, Ben has worked tirelessly and is always willing to listen to the concerns of others and help to try and address these.
He would make an excellent MP for Romford.
Dr Elliott Singer
Local GP
Ben has always shown great integrity working with our union, the BMA, to improve the NHS. His sense of duty is very clear, and I’ve seen up close how hard he works for the people he represents.
Ben will make an excellent Labour candidate and MP
Dr Tom Dolphin
Member BMA Council
Chair Brent Central CLP
Ben is a well informed, dedicated person the likes of which we need more of in parliament. Ben I someone you can trust as a candidate and as a Labour MP
David Marshall
Romford resident Secretary Havering Fabians
I have known Ben for two years, since I joined the Romford Labour Party. Ben plays an active role as part of the Executive Team, currently holding the post of Acting Chair. He impressed me at once with his enthusiasm and his ability to get things done – doubtless coming from his long experience as a working GP – as well as his empathy and willingness to listen to other members.
Ben would be an excellent local MP and I would heartily endorse his adoption as our candidate.
Simon Brophy
Romford Labour Member
Local activist
From Romford. For Romford. We deserve more’, says it all to me.
Ben is very aware of the challenges that our local community faces having lived in Romford all of his life, whilst practising as a GP.
Ben is conscientious, compassionate and a man of the highest integrity.
I would be delighted if he were to become the MP for Romford
Pauline Dennis
Romford Labour Member
Local activist
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