Meet Adam Gillman, the youngest general election candidate in Reading

Adam Gillman is the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate for the Reading Central constituency.

At age 18, he is the youngest candidate on the ballot, and is currently a college student.

Claim to the area:

I was born in RBH I have lived near reading all my life and study in Reading.

What are the biggest challenges faced by people in Reading Central?

The biggest challenges people are facing in Reading Central are the cuts to public services such as the from the NHS to Youth services to education over £11.2million of school cuts have been made to education in the past 14 years.

NHS privatization is another issue which has made NHS waiting lists long and made the NHS more inefficient in addition to the underfunding.

Housing is another issue which we see unaffordable housing being built that noone can afford if elected I would campaign for a mass programme of council house building, rent controls and an end to no fault evictions.

Lastly the war in Gaza is a big issue for many people in Reading and constituents feel betrayed by Matt Roddas abstention of the vote for a ceasefire in Gaza which could of saved thousands of lives.

What causes will you champion in the seat?

The causes I would champion would be to nationalize the big corporations such as the rail, mail, energy and water companies but also the banks and the big monopolies that are making record billions in profits whilst working class people have to pay higher and higher energy bills. This is especially true to Thames water who have shareholders using our water to make profit and this has lead to mismanagement of the water supply resulting in sewage being put into our rivers whilst we pay higher water bills. There's also the war in Gaza which is particularly important and no matter what we will always campaign against genocide, war and poverty.

The war in Gaza has resulted in over 30,000 deaths lot of which are children and is getting higher and higher as the war goes on.

In Reading Central there is anger at Matt Rodda who abstained on a vote for a ceasefire which although only being a temporary solution would of seen thousands of lives saved and that's why if elected I would campaign for an immediate end to the war.

What car do you drive?

I don't drive I use public transport and have seen how privatization and cuts to services have resulted in a more expensive and inefficient service. Train tickets are way too high due to the private companies always trying to make a profit any way they can and at the same time the trains are delayed and cancelled.

If we nationalized the railways under democratic workers control and management then the service would be a lot more efficient and cheaper and would be run for the service rather than for private contractors to make a profit. There are also the buses which are currently controlled by different bus companies which have seen bus routes cut over the past 14 years, my bus doesn't have a Sunday service resulting in me having to walk 2 hours into Reading.

If we had a publicly owned national bus company that's run democratically for the service if the passengers rather than like private companies to make a profit, and then the profitable services could subsidize the non profitable ones.

What is your favourite film or TV show?

I quite like A Bug's Life which is a film that shows the exploitation of the ants by the grasshoppers and how if we all unite together we can overthrow the oppressors and is very similar to how our current capitalist system works.

When was the last time you cried?

Well firstly I don't think this question is relevant as people are thinking about how are they going to pay their bills? Who going to fix their public services? Those types of issues there not watching a popularity contest of who has the saddest story.

However if I was someone who cried I would cry about the thousands of deaths in Gaza and the brutality that the Israeli state has unleashed on the men, women and children of Gaza.

What's your stance of drug legalization and have you taken drugs in the past?

Firstly we want to decriminalize drugs such as cannabis as no one should be punished for something their addicted to and alcohol is way more dangerous so why is cannabis illegal and not alcohol? Instead what needs to be done is there needs to be investment in services to help people with their addiction and also to prevent drug use if you invest in public services such as youth services then drug use would go right down as people use them to get away from the world and if you had high quality public services then there would be less reasons to take them. I have not ever taken any illegal drugs however I understand why people take them.