About Me

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I have lived and worked in Essex all my life. 

 

I am a Company Director and have worked in the leisure and tourism industry for almost 30 years.  I grew up on social benefits and that has never left me, but now as someone who has been lucky enough to have had the chances that I did in the end, I seek to give back.  

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My education was a difficult after attending what was then known as Thorpe Bay High, but I did eventually go to university as a mature student achieving a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). 

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My Politics

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I had previously voted for the Labour Party as soon as I was able to.  I became a paid up member for over 15 years and stood as a Labour candidate in the local elections in Southend.  For reasons that I lay our here, I decided to found a new, locally focussed and truly democratic party. 

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My politics is be as successful as your drive takes you, but pay your fair share, and that fair share be spent without corruption, waste or incompetence.  What that fair share is exactly is dependent on the needs of the time, but lower tax generally enables a good business environment which in-turn creates the jobs and disposable income needed to pay for the excellent public services we all want.

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​I am completely sold on local people making the decisions rather than instructions coming from London.  What could they possibly know that would trump our experience of living here? 

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I believe in real democracy, which means asking people their opinions and finding the truth together.  Most people agree on most things most of the time and working together in partnership really is possible if done in the right way.

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​​​I was proud to stand as our Confelicity candidate in the recent General Election for which our main goal was to spread our local message.  

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Standing as Mayor of Essex

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​​With devolution and local government re-organsation on the horizon over the next couple of years, I have been elected as our representative for Mayor of Essex.  To find out more click here.

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About Southend Confelicity

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I, along with residents of Southend, co-founded the Southend Confelicity Party (which means ‘happiness in other people’s happiness) four years ago in Southend, for Southend. With no national ties, we are an independent, locally-driven, vote-by-issue party. While members range from across the political spectrum, Confelicity, itself, is neither left nor right wing, we are just a party of local residents who only want to see the best for the town. 

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We have developed almost 100 local manifesto pledges for Southend over four years of monthly meetings, debating council policy and our own ideas. It covers everything from how the council is run to breathing new life back into Southend High Street and I hope you can see the local focus reflected in all the pledges. 

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Bournes Green Green Belt

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Confelicity pledges to save Southend’s threatened Bournes Green Green Belt and Southchurch Library

Confelicity will not build on Bournes Green green belt land and unless Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Cllr Terry’s Independent Group Coalition are voted out, the entire area will be concreted with over 10,000 unaffordable houses, not prioritised for local people. Despite Southend Labour declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’, this will destroy the environment and severely compromise our air quality, as well as overwhelm our public services and infrastructure with another 30,000 people in the town. Most would agree Southend is full!

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In opposition to this, I started the ‘Save Bournes Green Chase Green Belt Land’ group and organised the first two widely publicised protests. I helped co-found the newly formed ‘South East Essex Green Belters’ community group, and the third protest I organised was under this banner, bringing all the campaigners from Wakering to Basildon together.

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Southend Hospital​

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I am also starting a petition to stop Southend Labour’s planned demolition of Southend Hospital, which they claim is ‘at the ’end of its life’. Having submitted an FOI request to the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to establish the facts, I can confirm this claim to be untrue. Their plan to replace it with flats and build a new hospital on Bournes Green is total fantasy given the UK’s nearly £3 trillion national debt, and it appears it was said as a carrot to win the hearts and minds of Southend residents to support their unrelenting pursuit of concreting the land.

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Southchurch Library

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Unfortunately, this coalition also wants to demolish Southchurch Library and ‘move the provision’, claiming it is ‘beyond repair’. This despite the council’s own 2023 report showing otherwise. I launched a council petition to save the library, which reached almost 400 signatures - enough to be considered by cabinet. Incidentally, according to their own 2026/27 budget, they plan to spend £350K moving the service into Southend Adult College, even though it would cost just £250K to repair the building!

 

Business 

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As a businessman, I want to see Southend’s economy reach its full potential; restore an entrepreneurial spirit; support new and existing businesses to grow and create jobs; and help people earn a living doing what they love by creating an easy path into the business world. Unfortunately, we have, today, a Labour Party that both at national and local levels, have shown they are not a natural party for business with policies that stifle growth, shrink the local economy and ultimately cost livelihoods. 

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Labour, Lib Dem and Martin Terry's Independent Group Coalition

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Under the coalition we have seen Boom Battle Bar receive £450K only to close without notice, which follows Labour wasting over £14 million on the loss-making Victoria Centre. They also wanted to give developers £10 million for Seaway to build a bowling alley next to a bowling alley. Let us not forget what they’ve done to the Queensway underpass! It is being filled in because the council would have had to pay back a £15 million grant - which they had already spent - and will have a hugely detrimental effect on businesses along Southchurch Road, Sutton Road, the High Street and the seafront. Their £100K ‘City Day’ could have been mistaken for an election rally that attracted very few, and even the truly amazing RBL Remembrance Day Poppies on the Pier event was mired by Labour’s insistence to keep the money until they were forced to give it up! They allowed the Chief Operations Officer to sell the Southend Campus buildings at their recent 'Southend Investment Summit'.

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Year-after-year they have raised council tax by the maximum 5%, hiked parking charges that reduce footfall and trade (don’t forget they wanted to charge us to park in our parks), and found new ways in which to fine us - yet it is never enough money! And what has been the result? We can no longer even get our bins emptied once a week! 

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Had a local party devoted to Southend, such as Confelicity, existed 10 years ago, I am confident none of this would have happened and so I truly believe now is the time for local people to step in.  With such a big manifesto we are by no means a protest party, and I hope you can place your trust in myself and Southend Confelicity on a future driven solely by the passion of local people.

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Thank you for taking an interest and I sincerely hope you can find faith in me at the next elections.

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Kind regards,

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James Miller

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Southchurch Confelicity Candidate

Southend Confelicity Party Leader

Email: jamesmillersouthendconfelicity@gmail.com

​​​Prospective candidate for Mayor of Essex

Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Southend West and Leigh​

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