Martin Suker for Labour

Proud of my heritage, having been born and raised in Clacton, my family’s roots run deep in the local community. My grandfather’s grandparents moved here in the early 1900s, where my late nan’s family has been for decades.

Both my parents were brought up locally, with my father training as an electro-mechanical engineer and running a small family business with my mother – cleaning and maintaining swimming pools across the East of Essex, including, for a long period, the Tendring District Council pools. One grandfather worked as an engineer at Paxman’s in Colchester, and the other had a long-serving career as a policeman.

I was raised in Little Clacton, where I completed my primary education at St Andrews Primary in Weeley. I continued my education at Manningtree High, where I developed a love for the Arts, particularly Music and Drama. My grandmother’s passion for cooking rubbed off on me, and at 16, I found myself studying to become a Chef in London. I then moved to the city for some time to pursue my career in the kitchen.

During my early career, from ages 17 to 22, I worked full-time as a chef and later on, took various chef placements as an agency worker. During this time, I observed a significant lack of workers’ rights in a lot (but not all) of the industry, leading to issues such as underpayment, discrimination, bullying, and sadly, even instances of sexual harassment. After facing mistreatment, I joined a union and advocated for people in the industry who were unaware of their rights. I’ve always been frustrated by the hardships that hardworking people can face.

In more recent years, I’ve worked as a freelance photographer. I’ve collaborated with MSF, photographing the refugee camp in Calais, gaining a deep understanding of the situations many of these people have been through. I also visited an immigration detention centre in London, where I witnessed the failings of our immigration system.

Being a freelancer, I’ve experienced the challenges of self-employment, including the lack of support, late or non-payment from clients (generally larger, more influential companies), and the complex nature of the law around taking action against clients who refuse to pay.

Over the years, I’ve faced my own mental health struggles caused by a range of issues. While I’m now thankfully on the other side, it sickens me to see the lack of mental health support in our community. The rise in social media use, the lack of opportunities, and the results of austerity causing the NHS to be underfunded have all amalgamated into one crisis, where those who need support the most can’t get the help they need.

My father was sectioned with early onset dementia at 59, and as his single offspring, I’ve been appointed as his Court of Protection deputy, accompanying him on this entire journey. I’ve personally experienced the underinvestment in this area and aim to make a change. I’m now invited to speak publicly on mental health and am a mental health advocate.

I became more involved in politics in 2022 after becoming disillusioned with the state of the UK under the Tories and a passion for making change. In 2023, I stood as a candidate in Tendring District Council elections with my colleague Ian Lennard, who was elected.

I now serve as the Communications and Social Media Officer on the Executive Committee of my local CLP, with oversight of anything creative or public-facing. Since the start of my tenure, I have led effective digital media campaigns for elections and other recent events, with the most recent being an anti-racism campaign, which received great support.

I see the role of the Labour party is to be there for the people, to establish a fairer, more forgiving society towards those who work ever so hard just to make ends meet. I believe our greatest opportunity to help workers is to help businesses see the benefit of looking after their staff and paying them a more appropriate wage. I believe that self-employed workers and ‘gig economy’ workers need better rights to help them prosper and offer more opportunities locally.