Bristol South Representatives

Welcome to Bristol South's Representatives webpage. Here you can find information about the Councillors and leading Lib Dem campaigners in the ward.

Parliamentary Challenger - Dr Mark Wright

Mark Wright

A Strong Voice for Bristol South

Dr Mark Wright will contest Bristol South for the Liberal Democrats at the next General Election. The current MP is Labour's Dawn Primarolo, and the results from last time are on the information page.

Background

Mark Wright was born in Southmead hospital in 1974 and grew up in Hartcliffe in south Bristol. He went to Bristol University to study, obtaining a first-class degree in Chemistry and then a prizewinning PhD in Astrophysics, and since being a student has lived in central Bristol. He is a computer programmer, and is married to fellow Bristolian, Lena.

Mark had been interested in politics since school days, but only became politically active in 2002 when his frustration with the Labour government drove him to get involved. He was elected to Bristol City Council in 2005 for the City Centre ward (Cabot), and is now a leading councillor in the city for the Lib Dems.

In the Council and elsewhere, Mark has been active on civil liberties issues such as opposing ID cards and defending freedom of information and speech. He is strongly motivated by the unfairness of the tax system in Britain, and the need for radical reform of it to help the poor. He has been campaigning for total reform of the "expenses" system in Parliament for over two years - long before it became a national scandal. He is also a supporter of the Severn Barrage, and has argued at regional level for the Barrage to be taken more seriously to help combat climate change and eliminate the future need for nuclear power.

Mark has been chosen by Lib Dem members in Bristol South to be their parliamentary candidate at the next General Election. Having grown up in the constituency and now being actively involved with regeneration issues in Bristol via the Council, he is ideally placed to take up the cause of releasing the potential of Bristol South - large parts of which have been left behind for decades while other parts of Bristol have prospered.

Current Position

Mark has been a Councillor since May 2005 when he was elected in council elections at the same time as the general election. He was then the youngest elected Councillor for two years, and was re-elected in 2009. He is the Cabinet Member responsible for Housing, Service Improvement and IT within Bristol Council and looks after a budget of over £100 million.

In this role he has initiated the first council house building program in Bristol for nearly 30 years and launched a drive to get empty homes in the city back into use. Under his IT remit he also tightened the Council's rules on "RIPA" authorisations to limit council "snooping" on residents, and launched a drive within the Council to use more Open Source software.

Mark is also a School Governor at St George's School on Brandon Hill, and previously chaired a planning committee in Bristol for two years.

Mark's Comment:

Bristol has been my home all my life. I went to school and university here, I work here, I am also a city councillor here. I love this city, and it angers me that Bristol doesn't live up to its potential. The Labour Party have dominated Bristol for generations, and have failed this city. I am fed up with Labour's broken promises. Too many Labour MPs have simply used Bristol as a career stepping-stone. Bristol South deserves more - it needs an MP with commitment, honesty and integrity. I promise to be an MP that you can be proud of.

So remember - Make the "Wright" Choice for Bristol South!

Mark Wright

Contact Details

Mark Wright's Facebook profile

Youtube

The Bristol South Liberal Democrat Team

The Lib Dems have several councillors and campaigners in Bristol South. Below are listed the candidates by ward, with links to their details.

Helping Us

We are always happy to hear from people who want to help us help the community. You can help in a number of ways, for example: delivering our newsletters to your local street, putting up an election poster, helping in local campaigns to improve services and the environment, joining the party, donating to the party, and more. If you want to help then contact Mark Wright (details above) or your nearest local campaigner listed above.

To join Bristol South Liberal Democrats, you can either contact Mark or you can go to the main Liberal Democrat website and join online there. We are always happy to hear from people who want to join us, or who are about to join us. If you join online at the main site we will eventually get you details via central office, but this may take a couple of months.

To donate to Bristol South Liberal Democrats, the best way right now is to send a cheque, payable to South & East Bristol Liberal Democrats to:

Don't forget to include a note saying who you are! We are always very grateful for donations to the party, especially just before election time.

Unfortunately you cannot donate via this website yet. If must donate via the internet, you can donate at the main Liberal Democrat site. Unfortunately, using either of these sites means that the money you donate will not go directly to Bristol South.