Introduction message

I'm a PhD scientist and I run my own environmental biotech company here on the Island, employing Manx graduates. I was born and raised here before heading to uni in 1999, and moved home in 2017 after a career in the UK scientific civil service. If you elect me, I'll be stepping back from running the business but staying on the Board as Chief Scientist.

I've been a Trustee of Manx Wildlife Trust for the last seven years, I've represented the Isle of Man at two Commonwealth Games in rifle shooting, and I'm an Honorary Fellow of UCM. I live here in Onchan with my three-year-old son and our stumpy Manx cat, odin. My son is one of the biggest reasons I'm standing: the childcare, housing and spending decisions the next administration makes will decide whether his generation can build a future here.

You might remember me as the person who volunteered to set up the Island's COVID testing lab in March 2020. The lab I set up and ran got Manx residents same-day results, on-Island, within days. The Independent COVID Review later found my involvement was "pivotal" to the Island's response.

When I publicly challenged a Government testing decision in October 2020, I resigned from the lab I'd built rather than stay quiet. The same COVID Review found that Ministers did not handle that situation well. I've spent my whole working life solving problems, getting the work done, and saying so when something isn't right, even when it would be easier not to.

Ten years of little improvement to our lives

The economic pressures facing the Island have been building while Government has been producing strategy after strategy, review after review, from committee after committee, with very little direct action on the recommendations. What those reviews haven't done is grasp, or begin to tackle, the biggest the threat that has been coming down the line: our economy has been shrinking. The latest figures Government has published show GDP falling two years in a row in real terms, a combined contraction of 7.4%, and those figures were only up to March 2024. We will not have newer figures until the end of this year.

We are not the UK. We are small enough to be a speedboat, not a slow supertanker, and that was once our advantage. Responsive decisions built the Manx economy that thrived in the 80s and 90s. Over the last decade we have traded that agility for UK-style politics: policy reviews, consultations, and strategy documents standing in for decisions, delivery and accountability. We can find that agility again but it will take MHKs who are willing to make clear decisions, have firm stances, and be accountable for those decisions.

I will ask Government to measure more, not less, but only where those numbers will force a decision to be made. A figure that tells us how much food we produce, or whether a waiting list is getting longer, is worth havig because it makes inaction visible. A review that recommends a further review is not measurement, it's a delay with a cover sheet.

The MHK job is difficult and I know I won't be able to please everyone all of the time, but I promise to always have the following question at the forefront of my decision making: "Will this improve the lives of Onchan residents?" I believe that collaboration and compromise are the cornerstones of doing the best job to represent you in the House of Keys. Onchan deserves an MHK who is prepared to follow the evidence and make difficult decisions. I believe I am that person.

I hope you also believe I could be the change that Onchan needs to move forward.