Meet the Tory parliamentary candidate for the new Exmouth seat

The Conservative Party has chosen a former Royal Marine to stand for the new Exmouth and Exeter East constituency at the next general election.

Exmouth's current MP Simon Jupp will contend for the new Honiton and Sidmouth seat after his East Devon constituency is broken up.

Born in Carshalton in the London borough of Sutton, 33-year-old Tory candidate David Reed served with the Royal Marines for seven years.

He joined up immediately after finishing sixth form, training at Lympstone. He took part in counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, helped evacuate British nationals from Libya during the Arab Spring, and spent six months in Afghanistan in 2012.

He was also on the Royal Marine wingsuit team and Royal Navy Parachute Display Team, and made it onto Team GB for the sport before a foot injury forced him to give it up.

Reed has a degree in business and a master's in international security, and now works in software engineering for defence firm BAE Systems.

Connection to constituency

Engaged to be married next year to a woman from Kenton, David and his fiancée are currently living in the Cotswolds but are looking to move to Exmouth permanently and start a family.

He said: "We met here seven years ago, and have stayed together ever since. Her family are all still here as well, so we spend a lot of our time down here. 

"My dad's from Devon, born and raised in Plymouth. Generations of the family have come from down here, and from this constituency as well. The family on his side goes back to... the 1780s in East Budleigh.

"This is not a flash-in-the-pan career for me. I want to be doing this for a long, long period of time. This is the place that I want to raise a family, that I want to grow old in as well."

Locals getting 'priced out' of housing market

Reed highlighted housing as one issue in the constituency he wants to tackle if elected.

He said: "As someone who is trying to buy down here, it doesn't take too many clicks on Google to see that local people are both getting priced out of the housing market and that there aren't enough houses for local people as well. 

"I believe in the power of the [free] market... but at the same time, I believe in local homes for local people more. 

"A lot of people are buying second homes down here, Airbnb-ing, and that has removed a lot of the stock from the rental market and then also from from normal housing stock as well. 

"Tourism is massively important, I want this place to be bustling, but at the same time, that tourism industry wouldn't exist if local people weren't working down here. 

"When we're talking about [new] housing, I want to make sure that we're properly thinking about the school places that are needed afterwards, the access to hospitals, access to local services as well."

'Digital inclusion'

Responding to plans to close ticket offices and high street banks, David said although digitisation is inevitable, people ought not be left behind.

He said: "We are digitising more, it's a process that we can't move back from. But it doesn't work for me if there isn't digital inclusion. 

"If elderly residents in the constituency are being locked out of basic services that they need... such as banking or going down to the ticket office in Exmouth, it makes their life very difficult.

"I've got elderly parents. My dad's 81 now and Mum's into her seventies. Although they are tech-savvy... it does cause pressure, it does cause stress.

"That's something I'm very aware of and I want to make sure that all the provisions are in place so that we can be digitally inclusive."

Education

Reed described education as a "big thing for me", and said he will push for better schools and better outcomes.

He said: "We've got some really good schools, but at the same time, I want them to be better. I'll be fighting for extra funding per pupil, trying to bring up educational standards in terms of Ofsted... job fairs in local schools, giving people the access and the view of what's after school and different career paths afterwards is very important.

"One of the big things that I really want to push is apprenticeship schemes and linking up local businesses with local people."

Crime

More cops on the beat, opening a police front desk in Exmouth and tackling anti-social behaviour are also on Reed's agenda.

He said: "I want there to be far better visibility with the police.

"The two big ones here are anti-social behaviour, which peaks in the summer months when there's lots of tourism. I want there to be far stricter fines. And another one is violence against women."

Levelling up - Dinan Way, Exmouth Gateway

David told of how he is keen to continue work on connecting Dinan Way to the A376 and upgrading the area around the railway station with government 'levelling up' cash.

He said: "Dinan Way is massively important. Having that connection now into those arterial roads is something that's been much needed.

"And then the regeneration down here as well. This is the gateway into Exmouth. People locally want to feel proud of the area they come from and having this extra money to be able to do that work is a key part of that. 

"I'll be working closely as the candidate now to make sure that people are happy with that process, that they're well-informed, it's being communicated out so they know how this change is going to affect them over that period of time."

Sewage spills

Reed spoke about how he will tackle sewage spills in the local area.

He said: "I think the big problem for me is these big monopolistic companies, they haven't done the long-term structural engineering that's been needed.

"I think that's a big part of why people are quite annoyed. So I will be carrying on Simon's work in my capacity now to be able to really hold South West Water to account, to make sure that they are reinvesting.

"The infrastructure that we need to go in is mammoth, but they need to sort it out."

Climate, local business

David talked about helping local businesses and also about climate change.

He said: "I want to be making sure that the businesses down here are really high-performing, working with the different chambers of commerce, both in Exeter and Exmouth and the different funds as well, like the Great South West powerhouse, to make sure that businesses have a lot of support down here and they can really thrive.

"I am a big backer of going to net zero by 2050 and I'll be doing everything I can locally to make that happen."

Making the UK a 'pre-eminent cyber power'

David wants to "kickstart" British involvement in AI and cyberspace, and make use of Exeter Science Park to help achieve this.

He said: "Capturing British engineering and exporting it globally... is one of the big political things that I want to go after now, especially within the constituency.

"We have fantastic research universities in the UK. We have fantastic companies. We are really at the forefront of how these new technologies are developed.

"We saw that big announcement from Rishi Sunak on AI regulation, that they want this to be the global hub for where that regulation is conducted. 

"These technologies are going to shape so much of our lives going forwards. 

"I think looking at the UK as it is now, in terms of having left the European Union, this is a way that we can craft a new path for ourselves and really be able to start exporting high-quality products around the world so that we can start funding, or better funding, all of our public services.

"This is why the constituency is so important because we've got things like the Exeter Science Park... all the work that's going on there at the moment, I want to get really good businesses into that space with good partnerships with the local university in Exeter so that good ideas are being captured in that space and then commercialised as well."

To find out more about the new constituency and which towns it will include, click here.