Stevenage: Part two of our interview with new MP Kevin Bonavia

Kevin Bonavia’s general election win was comfortable, with a majority of 6,618. But it was not, perhaps, quite as comfortable as some had expected – his majority is around 2,000 votes smaller than Stephen McPartland’s in 2019, and he received around 4,000 fewer votes than Sharon Taylor (now Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) did in a losing battle in 2017.

That Mr Bonavia won the election despite this is largely a consequence of low turnout - the lowest ever since Stevenage constituency was created in 1983 - and increasing numbers of voters turning away from the two major parties completely, with 7,667 in Stevenage voting for Reform UK and healthy totals for the Liberal Democrats and Greens too.

Mr Bonavia says: “There’s one big lesson from the result, and that is about trust in politics.

“In recent years, there’s been several instances – particularly with the previous government – where standards of decency and accountability have been broken down.

“That’s left a lot of people disillusioned."

Kevin Bonavia gives his acceptance speech after winning in Stevenage last month. (Image: Christopher Day/Newsquest)

Mr Bonavia says he “got all kinds of responses” when he asked people what they liked about Reform UK, but the key point was a “distrust of the political process” and an opportunity to “express their frustration”.

“My job now is to show what an MP who is committed to public service will do.”

On the night of his election victory, he talked about restoring service and the “awesome responsibility” he feels – a line he repeats here.

But why should voters trust Labour to deliver on their manifesto commitments when their leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has abandoned many of the pledges he made during his campaign to take charge of the party?

Mr Bonavia, who was a critic of Jeremy Corbyn and voted for Sir Keir in the last leadership election, says: “Keir’s principles have always been there, but when circumstances change, you change your solutions.

Mr Bonavia (right) supported Sir Keir Starmer's successful bid for the Labour leadership in 2020. (Image: Labour Party)

“He was elected as our leader in 2020. Since then we’ve had the pandemic, we’ve had Ukraine, we’ve had the economic crash under Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak’s response to that.

“We’ve had to develop our policies in that very unstable period.

“What has been made clear to us as MPs is we have our programme of government and our long-term mission, but we are going to have to adapt as we get there.”

One of the issues that some commentators have pointed to as a cause of declining trust in politicians is immigration, with the UK’s net migration for 2023 estimated to be 685,000 people.

Mr Bonavia says: “It’s not about exact numbers year on year, it’s – when people come to our country, are they actually being able to contribute to our economy, to our communities, in the best way they can?

“Have we got a system that can use immigration to the best for our own benefit?

“Frankly, the current system isn’t working.

“Unless you’ve got those systems in place, then many people are going to feel when things go wrong … that it’s because we’ve got too much immigration.

“We need to turn around that mindset, and we need to make sure we have an immigration system that people think ‘that’s fair, yeah, that’s right actually, we do need those skills in our country’.

“So we do need a system that promotes that, but also we need to make sure that we have a system that is going to deal with it quickly and fairly when we have people who shouldn’t be here, for whatever reason that is.”

He says the government is “determined” to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers, “but to do that means we have to have a fair processing system”.

"We’ve got to get onto that as quickly as we can, and that’s one of the priorities of this government.”

Another “big issue” on the doorstep was justice, and law and order.

Mr Bonavia has met with Stevenage Borough Council leaders since his election last month. (Image: Kevin Bonavia MP)

A solicitor by trade, Mr Bonavia – who stepped down from his job when the election campaign got under way – says he wants to make the system “work for people”.

“I want to make our streets safer again. People need to be able to see their police officers.

“They need to see that justice works, and that young people can be taken away from a path of crime. That will be a key mission of mine.”

Public transport is another issue Mr Bonavia will be focusing on. He used his maiden speech to promise to lobby for the return of fast trains to Knebworth and improved disabled access at Stevenage station.

Mr Bonavia spoke at a hustings organised by Bus User's Group Stevenage during the campaign. (Image: Kevin Bonavia MP)

And, on buses, he’d “absolutely” like to see Hertfordshire take advantage of Labour’s plans to allow local authorities to franchise bus services and says he will be “helping them as best I can” to do so.

The aim, by the time the next general election rolls around, is to have a strong record that Mr Bonavia can point to when encouraging voters to return him to the House of Commons.

Part of that is to have some “measurable statistics” of his performance – people helped, emails answered, surgeries run – but Mr Bonavia also wants to be able to show how he has used his position “as a voice in Parliament to deliver some change on an issue in our constituency”. The next few years will show whether he can deliver on that ambition.

QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS

Favourite pub? The Poacher in Bedwell

Favourite Stevenage FC player? Captain Carl Piergianni

If you could put anybody in the House of Lords, who would it be? That’s for the King and his advisers to decide!

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Believe in yourself

Which three people would be at your ideal dinner party? My mum and dad – mum is sadly too ill to have come along to the campaign, and dad passed away many years ago – and Lewis Silkin, minister for housing when Stevenage became a new town.