A former teacher from Armley who is campaigning against bullying in schools is standing in Rishi Sunak’s Richmond and Northallerton Constituency in the July 4 general election.
Jason Barnett runs the Safer Schools group, and has spent the past five years calling for new government regulation over the way schools deal with bullying.
Mr Barnett is leading the campaign, launched at a public meeting in Leeds Town Hall in 2020, following his own experiences of violence while working in a West Yorkshire school. The campaign is made up of more than 150 families who have lost children to suicide or had them seriously harmed due to bullying, physical and sexual violence in schools.
He is now one of 13 candidates standing in Mr Sunak’s Richmond and Northallerton Constituency on 4 July.
Mr Barnett said he is hoping to raise the profile of the issue and the need for changes to legislation, policies and procedures to prevent bullying from happening to more children and families in the future.
He told WLD: “I wanted to be on the same ballot paper as Mr Sunak.
“His failure as Prime Minister – along with more than 650 MPs – to take any appropriate steps to ensure any investigation into the issues over the past five years has led me to stand, not to become an MP but to have a platform to reach the public, not only to ensure he can be held to account but to ensure all MPs can be held to account as well.”
Details of all the candidates standing in Richmond and Northallerton can be found here.