Biography

Born in 1964, Cllr Jonathan Salt was brought up in the village of Great Gransden and educated in the local primary school and then at Hinchingbrooke in Huntingdon, where he lives today.

Jonathan entered the political scene as an independent three years ago in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where his business is based. The Conservative dominated Town Council had taken the decision to sell off the town’s beloved Corn Exchange, despite massive public outcry. As a result, eleven local activists stood as independent candidates in May 2008 and all were elected. Jonathan has been on the Council ever since and has served on the amenities, planning and personnel committees.

He studied Theology and Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, and speaks fluent German. Professionally he is an educator, having been a teacher of RE and German in local Huntingdonshire secondary schools since 1999. Three years ago he established Ojemba Ltd., specializing in Holocaust Education and working primarily with the State Memorial Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau to run educational programs for young people and school groups wishing to have an in-depth experience of a visit to Auschwitz. He continues to work for local schools as a supply teacher and as a consultant in Citizenship. As a local business man he represents St. Ives on the area FSB committee.

In 2001 Jonathan established the Saint Ives Youth Theatre, Cambridgeshire’s premier theatre company for young people. The company has been a passion of his ever since and with a dedicated team of volunteers he has built a formidable reputation for the company and twice taken them to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe.

A local man who cares passionately about his local community, Jonathan now wishes to represent his community in Westminster.

Main Issues

Serving the Community

I want to ensure that the people in the local community are represented by a local person with a greater degree of accountability and transparency, who is committed to serving the community, and whose first loyalty is to the voters rather that a political party

Hinchingbrooke Hospital

Our local community hospital in Huntingdon, must remain as an NHS managed and funded entity committed to continued provision of full accident and emergency services and maternity services. I am totally opposed to the intended franchising out to private business of our hospital.

Fair Funding for Local Schools

I want to fight for fair funding for our local schools and to put right the 30 years of neglect through underfunding of the education services in Cambridgeshire. For years our schools and young people have been victims of politicians, treated them as a political football. I believe teachers should be allowed to educate our children, free from the constraints of political ideology and experimentation.

Electoral Reform

Our elected representatives should be just that, and should have more power to vote for what is right for their constituents. I want to weaken the power of the whipping system and to work with others towards a new system of political thinking in our Parliament, where we begin to treat people as human beings and take them seriously.