Lib Dem Martin Goss: 'Why I should be next Colchester MP'

We met with Mr Goss, 50, the Liberal Democrat’s General Election candidate for Colchester, in early March in a Costa Coffee in the Turner Rise Retail Park - in his own Mile End ward.

Mr Goss said out of all the candidates, he believes he has the most experience, having served as a councillor for 16 years and lived in Colchester for 46 of his 50 years.

He said: “I am extremely passionate about Colchester because what affects you, affects me.

“I know what the issues are around the infrastructure, around the NHS, around seeing your doctor and issues with education.” 

I ask Mr Goss about the NHS and why any member of the public should vote for the Liberal Democrats over other parties.

Mr Goss said: “The bottom line is we will not have a Conservative government, I bet my house on it, there is no way, absolutely no chance.

“Yes, it is probably going to be a Labour government, but the Lib Dems will play a part, there will be a relationship as when Paddy Ashdon and Tony Blair, the two leaders got on very well together and I am sure Ed Davey and Kier Starmer would be the same.”

Campaigning - Martin Goss during the 2024 General Election (Image: Colchester Liberal Democrats)

Mr Goss said politically his interest and knowledge had grown as a councillor from seeing how the government legislates for issues nationally, for example with Colchester’s pavement parking which comes down to police ruled by “regulations set by the government”.

Or how shoplifting fines “introduced when Tony Blair was in government” have been scaled back by government and not the council.

When Mr Goss was knocking on doors he met a nurse who said NHS bureaucracy meant there were “too many clipboard warriors”.

Health - Martin Goss said health was the top issue for this election (Image: Newsquest)

Another reason why Mr Goss is campaigning to become Colchester’ MP is the need to “to return to having a good MP like Bob Russell, like in the Halcyon days - when he was at his best.”

Mr Goss said that Sir Bob - who was Colchester’s Liberal Democrat MP from 1997 to 2015 - did not vote himself for tuition fees, but that the “national tide” did affect Sir Bob who lost one of the “safest MP seats in the country” in 2015.

Likewise in 2019, when Mr Goss unsuccessfully ran for MP, he said that the Colchester Liberal Democrats suffered as “even long-term supporters” did not agree with the party’s then stance to overturn the 2016 Brexit Referendum.

He said: ‘That’s all changed as Joe Swinson is no longer leader, Ed is a good solid leader.

“Secondly Brexit is not a party manifesto, there are too many other issues such to be dealing with such as cost of living and the NHS". 

Mr Goss said that he was sure the next generation “will want to have that conversation again” - the same statement the Conservative candidate for Colchester James Cracknell made to The Telegraph in 2023 - to which he responded: “Him as a Conservative candidate, that is probably the death of his campaign and his electoral fortune, which is not going to happen anyway.

“What is coming up on the doorsteps, is they want someone known.”

Councillor - Martin Goss has been a Colchester councillor since 2008 (Image: Submitted)

When asked about the outgoing Conservative MP Will Quince, Mr Goss said: “When he promised to get Colchester moving into the heart of government, now I throw that back to the voters.

“Do you think that he got Colchester moving - that was his strap line in 2015 - has he improved the hospital, improved the schools inflicted with RAAC?”

Mr Goss added that Mr Quince “spent too much time being a government minister” and not being a constituency MP “like Bob” which was “when you got a proper personal response”.

I ask Mr Goss about the role of social media in politics and his own personal use, to which he responded: “The feedback from a lot of people, is how surprised they are that I can hold my calm, my nerve, which is with some of the things I have to deal with.

“I correct people when there are lies, I call them factual anomalies, but they are lies, and they are wrong.”

I ask Mr Goss if he is elected MP, whether he would use a press office to engage with ‘factual anomalies’.

He said he would look at the “protocol”, with the difference being he would be employed as an MP unlike as a councillor, adding: “What Sir Bob would do is always sign each letter in the office and would read it, cross it send it back, see what he can change.

“Nothing would leave his office, without him rewriting it or re-scrutinising it unless he has seen it, I would still do that same level of scrutiny and I would still do my own social media. Why would I want someone else doing it?."

Poverty - Martin Goss said that foodbank dependence in Colchester was getting worse (Image: Newsquest)

When asked about the cost-of-living crisis’s impact on Colchester, Mr Goss said: “We have ten food banks in Colchester, that is not a record to be proud of.

“It is getting worse, you have teachers, nurses, people on originally good middle earning income, feeding their family or feeding themselves, that’s crazy - a travesty.”

“If Mr Cracknell gets elected, what does he know about politics? What does he know about getting things done? What does he know about legislative issues in the NHS or pavement parking or NHS dentist provision?

“I can sit here and see how the thread through society goes, can James Cracknell sit here and do that?” 

Mr Goss added: “People miss having a really good MP who lives here, knows the scaffolding as it were of the organisations, has the relationships, and has the track record.”