Biography

Sarah Flannery was born in Hampshire and raised and educated in Ireland.

She has lived in Tatton for over 25 years and wants to make it better place to live and work. She has been heavily involved in a variety of local community activities.

Sarah is co-director of a small advertising agency and is being supported by former Independent MP for Tatton, Martin Bell.

One of Sarah's forebears, George Tierney (MP 1790 and 1796-1830) earned the nickname 'the Citizens' MP' because of his democratic principles and the idea of 'power to the people' is as important to her today as it was to George back then.

Sarah is married with two daughters, the youngest of who is now at Leeds University.

In her spare time, Sarah enjoys amateur dramatics and usually joins the cast of at least one or two productions a year

Main Issues

Defence

The defence budget is already facing cuts, so I’m against replacing Trident. I believe we can spend the money on far more important things, such as better equipment for our armed forces, protecting front-line public services and reducing the national debt.

ID cards

No one in Government seems to have any consistent view about the purpose of ID cards, the cost of ID cards, what data will actually be included on them and what, precisely, are going to be the actual benefits. This vagueness about cost and scope, combined with the Government’s appalling track record with large-scale IT projects and data protection, is enough for me to say that for the time being at least, I’m firmly against ID cards.

The National Debt

I would support immediate public spending cuts that either address waste or are in my view an inappropriate use of scare resources and would suggest the following for starters:

- Overhaul public-sector pension

- Scrap or mothball ID cards and the two major database schemes (National Identity Database and Contact Point) and further development of NHS Connect

- Review and reduce the inherent wastage of bureaucracy

- Scrap the Baby Bond scheme

- Ensure public-sector pay discipline

- Improve credit availability and affordability for SMEs

Local Issues

Rural Affairs

We have beautiful countryside in Tatton. But the rural community needs support in order to flourish: we need a better connection, understanding and balance between urban and rural demands so they don’t compete, they complement. We have seen rural services collapse in recent years and we’re currently facing the unprecedented environmental threat of not one but possibly FOUR incinerators in Cheshire: the ‘toxic diamond’. We must argue our case in Westminster and as your Independent MP, I promise my active and visible support in resisting the plans for Middlewich and Lostock.

Young People

All young people need support, encouragement and better opportunities if they are to thrive and develop into people who improve society as a whole. And they all need the right qualifications and employability skills to suit the needs of the local economy. As Independent MP, I’ll make it a priority to talk to young people and everyone involved in providing services to young people (from schools and youth organisations to local businesses and statuary bodies like the Council and the police) to find out what’s really needed and wanted.

Local business and public services

I’m a co-director of my own business, so I know first-hand the issues facing local businesses, particularly SMEs. 

As Independent MP, I can help by:

- Supporting plans to reduce red tape and admin

- Proposing tax breaks, especially for smaller or fledgling businesses

- Promoting ‘buy local/shop local’ campaigns

- Reduced or frozen business council tax for new businesses

- Support coordination between 6th form colleges and local businesses to improve recruitment/work experience/mentoring opportunities

- Work with local business people to harness creative ideas to boost the local economy