The 64-year-old is standing for Nigel Farage’s party in Thirsk and Malton, hoping to take the traditionally-safe Conservative seat from government minister Kevin Hollinrake.
Polls currently show a huge drop in Tory support since 2019, with Electoral Calculus predicting Mr Hollinrake is only marginally ahead of Labour, with Reform trailing in third.
Mark, who is also a parish councillor, previously stood for the Brexit Party in 2019, and only became involved in politics when he realised “shouting at the television made no difference.”
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The candidate says it is hard to find a school place for children, see a GP when you need to, adding his 90-year-old mum is still waiting to see her GP about a fall suffered in November.
Mark also cites a man in his 90s waiting 10-hours in A&E over what turned out to be a cardiac issue, and himself being contacted by a local unable to pay their council tax, apparently through no fault of their own.
He said: “This is not how the country, or our beautiful county, should be run. Clearly, things are broken and they need practical solutions to the problems that exist.”
Mark continued: “I feel that we cannot allow the sacrifices and efforts made by successive generations over millennia to have been made for nothing, or for the present political classes, civil servants and the rest of the establishment to destroy our country, our spirit, our sense of nationhood, and our sense of national pride.
“I had to do something to arrest the decline and degradation of our nation.”
He argued: “We need, as Nigel Farage so correctly says, a political revolt: a people’s army to make the change we need in our wonderful country and to restore our nation – to have our country back.”
“We need to restore the moral compass that has guided our country for centuries and to give us all hope.
“People deserve a safe, peaceful country, at peace with itself and the world. A homeland fit for heroes.”
The farmer rates Reform UK’s chances ‘very highly’ both nationally and in Thirsk and Malton, saying the feedback the party has been getting locally and nationally both on the ground and by email is ‘phenomenal.’
He believes it is ‘likely’ Reform UK will push the Tories into third place nationally in terms of votes, and “in the light of this it is quite obvious that a vote for the Tories in Thirsk and Malton is a vote for Labour, and the only credible alternative is Reform UK.
Mark said: “Nigel Farage is by far the best politician in the UK today, and his return to frontline politics has blindsided the opposition.
“Reform UK looks likely to form the only credible opposition to what will probably be a socialist government. In the subsequent general election, Reform UK will be tipped to win and form the next government.”
He promises a ‘common sense approach’ to politics, saying as with farm work, he work to find practical solutions to practical problems.
Mark doubts the current state of the nation is not through ‘bungling incompetence alone’, but also ‘wilful neglect’ and politicians not working to an agenda in the interests of the country and its people.
He added: “This is a situation that needs urgent remedy, and the only remedy on offer is Reform UK. We encourage everybody to read Reform UK’s contract with the people which can be found on the Reform UK website.”
The other candidates in Thirsk and Malton are Lisa Banes (Labour), John Brownlee (Yorkshire Party), Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative), Steve Mason (Lib-Dem) and Richard McLane (Green).
