Oh you know, I’m not a natural politician. I’m not a natural speaker, but having seen the damage that the Conservatives have done for the last 14 years, and then Labour prior to that, Tony Blair in his warmongering days, something I found very heartbreaking is the corruption that happens within government. I was a police officer and I tried to challenge the corruption within the police force. I couldn’t do it inside, so I decided to leave, seeing what is happening with the government, the austerity and how it’s affecting people like you and I. How can I change something? And it’s about going to where the problem is. And the problem is the corrupt British government. So that’s what I want to do. I want to get in parliament, be part of the problem so I can create the change. I mean, as an independent candidate as well, I’m a lot less able to be corrupted than a party. It’s easier to corrupt a party than it is 650 MPs as independent candidates.
I totally get where you are coming from, I was the same, politically homeless, hence standing as an Independent.
Locally, where do we start?
That’s a fair question. I’m always uncomfortable bragging about myself and why I’m the best for the job, However, I think my experience shows I have one thing many politicians lack, Empathy.
Maybe that’s because I have been in many of the situations people face so I have a genuine lived experience and understanding of how it feels to be in that / those situations and wouldn’t want anyone to feel that way.
All of my career choices have been roles to enrich people’s lives and the rewards from doing that out way any financial benefit I could ever get. So becoming an MP is another way to do that, just on a larger scale.
SEND is something very close to my heart as a family we have had the negative experiences.
CEC and CWAC have some of the worst statistics on meeting targets much to the detriment of families, leaving many in crisis.
SEND needs huge reform, its evident the need is greater than current funding shows and this is evidence by the poor time scales and services families are receiving.
I wholeheartedly believe all children should have access to education in a safe setting that can meet their needs, with full support as all children should be given the opportunity to learn, socialise and reach their full potential.
In order to do this more funding is needed, for more SEN schools suitable for those with the highest of needs, we need more SEN provisions within mainstream settings with all staff undertaking S.E.N.D training.
S.E.N.D training to form part of the PGCE training for all new students asap.
All local authorities to meet and adhere to EHCP deadlines, consequences if not.
Its great we have an education minister but we need a specific minister for SEND too.
And all of this support needs to continue until 25 yrs just like foster children can.
I think it’s something that we need to be hard on in terms of the people that are doing the human trafficking. We need to come down on with tougher laws. But these people are human beings. The Rwanda policy is abhorrent. So against that, we’re just outsourcing another British problem. So I think we need to be more fair on the immigrants. They’re people at the end of the day and they deserve to be treated with empathy and kindness.
Thank you for your email and I wholeheartedly agree.
I am disabled myself, and have family members that are neurodiverse so I understand many of the challenges disabled people face, I also founded a business called adaptive clothing UK where I design sensory and accessible clothing for children with physical limitations and disabilities.. So I have first and I’m already disgusted with the system for disabled people and then like many I was absolutely angry to read about the proposed new voucher scheme instead of PIP being paid in money. It’s discrimination, simple as. The whole system needs reform.
I have read scope and mencap manifesto’s and they will be something I will back and fight for if elected as Mid Cheshire MP.
We need real representation, people who have lived the experiences and understand the need for change,
I have lived many of the experiences that a lot of people are facing today. I grew up in poverty on a council estate with a very abusive parent. So something in me doesn’t like to see people suffer. I’ve got genuine empathy. I found solace playing volleyball for Great Britain. And in doing that, I got to see the world and I got to see that there was more to life than I was living and it wasn’t the norm. So ever since then, all I’ve ever wanted to do is help people. I think that shows with all my career choices up until now. Lived experiences. I’ve used the food bank. Me and my daughter found ourselves in a situation where I needed to use that facility as well. And that’s increasing month to month. And for me, that’s heart-breaking. We shouldn’t be using food banks. We’re one of the richest nations in the world. We need to make sure that our people, our fellow human beings, are looked after.
I’m all for bringing the NHS back into public hands. I think the for-profit companies will be making a billion pounds in the next five years. 94% of the contracts are due to expire. I think if we bring those back in house, we can use that billion pounds to better fund the NHS, to give doctors and nurses better pay to make the career look more appealing, and then recruitment will be a lot easier, and we can spend it on better equipment and more infrastructure, making our NHS the greatest British institution that it once was.
For me, it’s about tackling the current economic model that we’ve got. I have personal lived experience of this cost of living crisis, having the need to use a food bank myself. And I see the numbers growing day after day of people using the food banks. Homelessness is growing. We’ve got children starving for goodness sake. So it’s something that needs to be tackled as soon as possible. And wages need to increase as well in line with inflation.
My background, I spent 14 years in the police force, unfortunately I sustained a lifelong injury. I challenged the police force about a number of issues and subsequently took one of the largest police forces in the UK to an employment tribunal, so I have no issue in challenging things in a dog eat dog world.
When I left the police I went back to university and gained a BS Hons degree in abuse studies, which includes politics, psychology, abuse of power to name a few. I then continued and gained a MSc in criminology.
I have worked with politicians when supporting victims of police abuse and miscarriages of justice. So have been in the dog eat dog world a long time.
I have founded and run an award winning business Adaptive Clothing UK. I’m also a domestic abuse psychoeducation facilitator with a great charity.
I was an independent local councillor in Middlewich and resigned to to the abhorrent behaviour of other Councillors not putting the town and people first.
I want to make changes for the people of our towns, all 3 have been neglected by the current MP in their constituency.
As you can see from my background, I genuinely care about people and making their lives better.
System needs to change. It’s very unfair. I don’t agree with first past the post, and I think it needs to be the PR system.
Climate change is happening. We all know that. What is important is making the timescale realistic for us to reduce the CO2, the manmade CO2. And I think we need to extend that timescale to make it more realistic because it’s having an impact on us. As you know, general public, our livelihoods are being hit hard by this, and I think the biggest contributors to climate change have to be the big corporations. We need to start there, hit them hard and fast and slowly but surely work towards the general public coming in line with those as well.
