GARETH Derrick is in his own words a ‘unique’ kind of Labour Party candidate, writes Kerenza Moore.

His 36 years in the Royal Navy included active service in The Gulf and in Iraq, and a period as defence attache to the British ambassador in Tokyo.

He retired from his position as Commodore in charge of the country’s Royal Navy and Royal Marines Reserve in 2013.

In a complete change of direction, he founded his own cheese-making company.

This was successful – but politics, always important in his life, was calling him to look outwards once more.

He got involved actively in 2015, he says, because he has a strong belief in social justice, in helping to make society better for everyone.

Gareth is a calm and measured speaker, but there is conviction behind his words.

Meeting people in South East Cornwall over the last few weeks, he says that three worries constantly come up: health care, education and housing.

‘Wherever I go, there are worries that access to healthcare is getting very difficult for people.

‘They’re also worried about education. It has become clear that education cuts have begun to bite really badly.

‘Access to housing is a third point that’s incredibly important. The second homes thing and other factors are driving up the cost of homes, and really making it difficult for local people to afford homes, and that applies either if they’re buying or renting them.’

Everything is ‘stacked against’ young people at the moment, says Gareth. ‘People need to wake up to what’s going on, and fight back.’

The Labour Party has promised high levels of funding for education and health, and a £250bn National Transformation Fund, Gareth says, will see investment directed towards the South West’s infrastructure and economy.

The funding of Labour’s public spending plans relies heavily on a rise in tax on big business and the highest earners. Can he be sure that there will be enough money?

‘Nothing is completely predictable, but for all Labour’s spending commitments it has set out a clear way in which it’s going to achieve it,’ Gareth says.

‘I don’t think that many people in South East Cornwall will not warm to the fact that people earning over £80,000 a year will pay a little more tax, and that people earning £123,000 will go on to the higher rate. We are a very wealthy country and we can afford a better society for all.

‘To restore corporation tax back to 26 per cent puts it well in the norm around the world, and don’t forget we are giving smaller businesses a lower rate.’

Brexit, says Gareth, presents a real opportunity for South East Cornwall – but only if we get the negotiations right.

‘I’m not prepared to put up with a “no deal”. The Labour Party is committed to Brexit but not just to cut and run.

‘South East Cornwall is one of the places that has the most to gain, it could be a real opportunity, for example, to revitalise the fishing industry.’

Gareth says he does not often support UKIP views, but that on fishing, the party was right, and he wants to see control taken of the six-12 mile limit with a guarantee that this will not be used as a bargaining tool during negotiations.

Other issues, such as balancing control on immigration with continued access to export markets, will, he concedes, be much more complex.

For the only time during our interview, Gareth’s hackles are raised just slightly on the topic of tactical voting.

It ‘doesn’t apply here’, he says.

But South East Cornwall has never had a Labour MP – is it not better to make way for the Lib-Dem candidate?

‘Tactical voting really doesn’t apply unless two people are vying to knock out the top one,’ he said.

‘With the greatest respect to the last candidate for Labour, he wasn’t the strongest candidate.

’The Lib-Dems are weak, and with what we see going on in society, with the big changes ahead, there’s no doubt about it in my mind, right now it is between the Conservatives and the Labour Party.’

Gareth is also cross about what he sees as the media’s unfair treatment of Jeremy Corbyn.

As a naval officer, Gareth was involved with the introduction of the Vanguard class Trident submarines in the 1990s, and he says that now is ‘absolutely the wrong time’ to remove the nuclear deterrent. But he defends Corbyn’s right to a personal view.

‘Jeremy Corbyn is often slated for commenting thoughtfully about whether or not he would use weapons of mass destruction.

‘I would say to you that the comments he’s made are the same as anyone who is genuinely in that position.’ During my conversation with Gareth, I am struck by the fact that he is not afraid to say he doesn’t know something, or that his party has had problems.

‘Party divisions have been traumatic, and until we are healed we will never properly succeed, but I think it’s very exciting to see that the Labour Party’s manifesto has been so warmly welcomed. It really does demonstrate that people are behind a more radical alternative to what we’ve got. This may be one way out of Labour’s divisions.’

He volunteers the fact that some people were ‘wary at first’ of the fact he lives in Ivybridge, Devon.

‘I think people that have met me have warmed to me, they can see how committed I am to the task of fighting for social justice and for a more prosperous South East Cornwall.’

I ask what kind of an MP he will be. ‘During my years of public service, I always felt I needed to be honest and act with integrity, and those are the characteristics I would bring to being an MP.

‘If there is something that needs to be said about South East Cornwall that might run against my Government or whatever is being put through Parliament, I will fight to change it.

‘I make it my pledge that I will respond properly to everybody that writes to me.’

He smiles at the question of moving house and says his wife, a teacher, agrees it would be ‘fantastic’.

Gareth is happy to have on the record that he will move to the constituency if elected on June 8.