An All Woman Shortlist for Sheffield Heeley -Why Nikki Bond should be your first choice:

In January this year Sheffield MP Meg Munn announced she would be stepping down at the 2015 General Election. Sheffield-born Munn was first elected to parliament in 2001. Her Heeley constituency in the city is an interesting seat that represents traditionally poorer areas of the city such as Arbourthorne and GleadlessValley while also looking after the leafy suburbs of Greenhill and Norton.
To represent the people who live in such diverse areas will take someone with special skills. I have previously written about the differences within the city in levels of child poverty and the fact that the residents of our poorer areas will probably have quite different issues to those of the wealthier areas.

While the issues of unemployment, antisocial behaviour, food poverty and benefits might be in the thoughts of the less fortunate residents, the people that inhabit the more sought after parts of the city are less likely to be affected by such things.
It takes a talented and dedicated person to be able to empathise with the poorest and most vulnerable in society, whilst appreciating the needs and desires of the business community and the aspirations of the more wealthy. Electing a suitable candidate might well be a difficult task..

Sheffield, according to Wikipedia, boasts green spaces that cover over 60% of its land. There are over 250 parks and 2 million trees. A third of the city lies within the Peak District. In stark contrast, there are areas within the city that have been in need of regeneration for years. While parts of the city are flushed with extravagance of the wealthy and the exuberance of the tourism industry there are run down areas which have become short stay parks or people passing through or down on their luck; single parents who have been given priority housing or people who have experienced a relationship breakdown and just need somewhere as a stop gap. The result in these areas is often that the residents don’t think of it as their home and so there is no community spirit.

Sheffield is crying out for someone who will work tirelessly to improve those areas, to create spaces where even the passing through can feel they belong and the lost and vulnerable can feel safe.

I have for a long while been a believer that a city like Sheffield needs an MP who can relate to the needs of Sheffield people on council estates but still be able to appeal to more affluent voters in areas such as Heeley.
Nikki Bond is hoping to step into that role and having met
her recently, I believe she is the right person for the job..

 

I caught up with her today in a coffee shop in the thriving Ecclesall Road area.

I went with open mind knowing little of her other than what I had read on Twitter. I knew she was an advocate for feminism and equality. I have seen her support the No Page 3 campaign and the living wage, and was aware she had attended rallies against the evil bedroom tax and fascist EDL movement; but chatting to Ms Bond for a while it is clear that she is much more than just a feminist and activist.

Nikki travelled around the world as a child and enjoyed the luxury of boarding school; not because she was born into wealth or is the daughter of aristocracy, but because her Dad was a Private in the Army and stationed abroad. The Army paid for her education in boarding school so the Army kids were able to get a stable education - a privilege her parents would not otherwise have afforded. Her mother works as a special needs Teaching Assistant, which may have been where her passion for high quality education (and public services) for everyone, rather than only for those can afford it comes from. Just this week she was at the NUT rally showing her solidarity and support for the teachers on strike.
Since settling in Sheffield, where she studied at
Sheffield University, she has worked tirelessly to help the underprivileged and the most vulnerable in society as a local councillor. She is a passionate campaigner for women’s rights, as well as working with domestic violence charities. She has previously worked in admin roles and as a waitress. She still finds time to do the administration work for her husband’s gardening business, despite her busy schedule. Last December she worked on “small business Saturday”, which was a national day to support small businesses. Nikki somehow managed to find the time to distribute posters to almost every business in Nether Edge to encourage people to shop and buy local.
Although my intention was to interview Ms Bond and ask her some testing questions about how she can relate to real peoples’ issues, I found myself talking about many of my own experiences as she listened to what I had to say and empathised with the plight of everyday life.
She told me her first inspiration to get involved in politics was her Grandfather, who used to tell her stories of when he worked in the factories. She recently found out that her Great Grandparents worked in the cotton mills in Manchester. She is clearly and rightly very proud of her family’s working class background and this has had a big influence on her politics. It also accounts for the work she does to strengthen communities. She is involved in projects such as refurbishing local amenities, engaging the help of volunteers to mend the damage done to a community building by anti-social behaviour and vandalism.

She clearly relishes the challenge of getting people engaged and involved with this kind of project and she is in the process of enlisting the help of builders, plasterers and painters to create a space that can be enjoyed by everybody in the community. .

She told me she wants to be a community politician, not hell bent on looking after the interests of the Westminster village but listening to and providing a much needed voice for the people.
High profile politician’s parachuted into marginal seats purely because the seat is winnable should not be the motive.
The Farages and Cleggs of this world might be highly polished orators, able to debate with pizzazz on live TV and impress us by remembering our name when asked a question on BBC panel shows. But to understand the needs of a constituency and represent its electorate with honesty and integrity takes someone who cares more about the people who elected them than the rewards and social standing the office offers them. Nikki Bond makes no claim to be working class. Nor does she defend the system which allows only the well off or retired to be in politics. Despite not being poor or uneducated she seemed perfectly comfortable in the company of a clearly less well educated working class Yorkshire man.
She is part of an all-woman short-list for Sheffield Heeley.I suggested that all women short lists aren’t ideal, just like all working class short lists aren’t because they can result in a lack of respect for the winner, giving room for sceptics to suggest that the successful candidate would not have won in an open race.

Nikki accepted the suggestion with a glint in her eye that gave me the impression that she would be a formidable opponent, were any one to suggest such a thing of her. While my point was arguable, she believes it is undeniably high time that something was done to break the mould of middle aged, middle class white, male politicians that dominate both the government and opposition benches in the House of Commons to promote more diversity in politics. Even Education Secretary Michael Gove was complaining about this at the weekend.
Many young people are said to be disengaged with politics
because they are unable to relate to the grey, off the rack politicians we see on TV.

Nikki donates much of her time to working with young people and it probably helps that she is relatively young herself. At 31 years old, she was younger than I expected; but her mature attitude combined with a great amount of energy and enthusiasm made me feel confident at her capabilities to fulfil this important role.
She is a Cabinet Advisor for environment, a member of the GMB and is known to run the occasional marathon.
She is able to associate herself with the younger voters, the business community, and being a trade union member gives her the ear of the workers. She is a big supporter of the Living Wage campaign and regularly appears on local radio and in the Sheffield Star and has written articles on her
experience of online trolling for the Guardian. She has also had press releases in ILM news, a monthly newspaper written in Urdu and distributed free across Sheffield.
I was struck by her normality and enthusiasm, while feeling slightly daunted by her natural belief that what she is saying is true. In a world where politicians talk in disingenuous riddles, Nikki Bond will stand out for me, as a beacon of humility and honesty. I would absolutely urge anyone who has the chance to go along and meet her, to do just that.
To enable Nikki Bond to stand as Heeley’s next Member of Parliament, she needs Labour party members to vote for her. So if like many people, you want an MP who cares about the community she lives and works in, who works relentlessly for people less fortunate and is a genuine real person then I strongly urge you to give your support to Nikki by retweeting, reposting or sharing this with friends and family members.
Hopefully come 2015 Nikki Bond will be the next Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley.