Southend West by-election: Jason Pilley

Candidates will contest a by-election in Southend West following the death of Sir David Amess, who was fatally stabbed during a constituency surgery in October.

He had been the MP for the constituency since 1997.

Jason Pilley, from Southend, says he is standing for election because "I'm Southend and if there's an election in my town I'm going to be standing in it".

He says the Psychedelic Movement's position was that when you look back at the 20th Century, "criminalising and crushing the hippies was one of the stupidest things we've done". The movement advocates regulating a "cannabis industry" because laws surrounding the drug have not worked.

The vote takes place on 3 February.

24 January 2022