General Election 2024 in Crawley: Meet the Conservative candidate

Zack Ali - Conservative candidate for Crawley. Image: Zack Ali

Eight people have put their names forward to be Crawley’s next MP.

Here’s what the Conservative candidate had to say.

Zack Ali is a newcomer to the General Election but definitely not to local politics.

The father-of-two, who moved to Crawley in 2009, is standing for the Conservatives and has a six-point plan of action.

It covers health – including his disappointment at the temporary closure of the walk-in centre at Crawley Hospital, crime and antisocial behaviour, the regeneration of the town centre, businesses, improvement to the roads as well as the pavements and cycling infrastructure, and opposing the West of Ifield plans.

While pro-housing, he, like so many others, does not think West of Ifield is the right place for thousands of new homes.

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With other neighbouring authorities already building up to Crawley’s boundaries, he spoke of his concerns about the pressure placed on the town’s services.

Mr Ali said that pensions, health and the state of the town’s roads were among the top issue people raised while he and his team were out door-knocking.

Regarding the latter, he said he spent a day or two driving and walking around the area, reporting potholes to the county council.

He added: “If I’m elected as an MP I need to lobby the government to give us more money so we can not just fill the potholes but improve roads and invest in road infrastructure.”

The need for more visible policing and more money and resources for the police are also on his ‘to-do’ list.

As for the elections themselves, his message to potential non-voters was to think again.

Disappointed by last month’s borough elections turnout, he said: “People have sacrificed their lives for the right to vote and it’s not good that we don’t use that right.”

And to those who felt politicians have no idea what it’s like to live life in ‘the real world’, he said: “I have the experience of being an ordinary grass-roots person working every day on hourly wages.

“We need people like us in Parliament to tell them what issues and day-in, day-out realities we face.”