Southend West by-election: Christopher Anderson

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.

Freedom Alliance candidate Christopher Anderson, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, says he is standing because after the "tyranny of lockdowns and vaccination mandates", it was important for "anyone who can be articulate and understand the issues, which I felt I did, to stand up and make their voice heard".

He adds he always felt "quite disenfranchised with the [electoral] system due to the first past the post system" and that, in the future, he would like to see "direct democracy".

In the short term, though, he advocates "more proportional representation, which would give smaller parties more of a say".

The vote takes place on 3 February.