Recently we requested opinion pieces from election candidates. Last week we published 2 contributions from election candidates in the North Cotswolds on the problems faced by their area. Now, on election day we are following this up with the South Cotswolds candidates who responded to our invitation. Many of the same concerning themes are in evidence.
NB West England Bylines takes a keen interest in the election but is not advocating voting for any any one party.
1)
Care, deprivation and the environment
I am not a career politician trapped in the Westminster bubble, playing “punch and judy” politics. Instead, I am a person committed to listening to and addressing the real concerns of local people in the South Cotswolds.
Our area suffers from underfunded community hospitals and overstretched rural GP surgeries. Residents struggle to see a doctor, and those not registered with an NHS dentist find it impossible to do so. The threat of surgery closures in Sherston and Cricklade could force thousands of patients to travel miles to already overstretched GP surgeries in Malmesbury and Purton. The wait for urgent mental health treatment is unacceptably long, leaving people to suffer.
Some of our nation’s most iconic rivers, including the Bristol Avon and Thames, rise in the South Cotswolds. As the only woman to row solo across three oceans, using my adventures to raise awareness of the ecological crisis, I see the environment and clean water as paramount. The disgusting dumping of raw sewage into our rivers is a constant concern, and the Lib Dems have an effective action plan to stop it.
I strongly oppose the proposed vast solar development called Lime Down in Wiltshire, which has caused huge local anger. While I support renewable energy, such schemes must be appropriately sized and placed. Solar panels should be placed first on brownfield sites and roofs, benefiting customers and communities, not large landowners and offshore developers.
Many rural communities struggle with poor broadband, limited public transport, and a lack of truly affordable housing, driving young people away, while Airbnbs and second homes hollow out our villages, threatening the viability of primary schools, local shops and pubs.
Poverty is often hidden in small towns and villages, with remote homes and social housing estates heated by expensive oil. Local charities, food banks, and community cafes do great work, but they speak of growing challenges like household debts, complex welfare systems, and child food poverty. This Conservative government has left charities and good-hearted people to make up for their own shortcomings, and this is not fair. These issues are complex and multifaceted, with few quick or easy solutions. However, a collaborative, creative, innovative, and inclusive approach can make positive changes happen. I am used to taking on and overcoming supposedly impossible challenges and would relish the opportunity to do so as the first MP for the South Cotswolds.
Dr Rosalind Savage MBE, South Cotswolds Liberal Democrat candidate
2)
Poverty is often hidden in South Cotswolds
Food poverty is another expression of poverty and the need is growing. Since 2012 Cirencester Foodbank has been operating across the South Cotswolds, providing just under 4,500 emergency food parcels year to our residents alone. The timing is no coincidence – in 2012 the Conservative-led government was in the early stages of its programme of cuts to government support to our most vulnerable. Today, foodbanks are an all too familiar part of our local landscape.
At the recent launch of the South Cotswolds’ food poverty report, I was struck by the fact that last year 42% of Cirencester Foodbank users were there for the first time. But even still, there can be stigma around accessing foodbanks. In some cases, parents worry that foodbank use may mean put their children at risk of being taken into care; this is not the case. As Head of Cirencester Foodbank, Anton Wynn, told me, the foodbank service they provide is dignified but the need is not.
‘Foodbank’ is a word that not many of us knew prior to 2010. It is horrifying that the UK now has more foodbanks than McDonalds.
I have visited the depot where the Head of Cirencester Foodbank, Anton Wynn, and his team prepare essential parcels of food and household goods. It is a sobering experience to see the wall to wall, floor to ceiling shelving packed with tin cans and dried foods alongside essential toiletries and pet food. This is the reality for many of our friends and neighbours who have been tipped into emergency situations through the unnecessarily punitive Universal Credit regime, a lack of access to public transport and the unresolved cost of living crisis. There are far too many gaps in our so-called ‘safety net’.
In 2024, there is real hunger in the South Cotswolds and much of it is hidden. The remote nature of where some of our communities live in our constituency can it make it hard to access much-needed services to support people in difficult times. The team at Cirencester Foodbank rightly focus their recommendations for improvements on shoring up incomes, expanding the provision of bus services as well as providing other advisory support services including for mental and financial health to help prevent future need.
We are at a critical juncture. Former Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, describes our current situation as a “child poverty pandemic” and rural poverty is all too real. South Cotswolds requires representation at the heart of a new Labour government to ensure that together we can put the end to the end of foodbank need and ensure everyone can have access to the necessities of life.
By Zoë Billingham, South Cotswolds Labour parliamentary candidate
3)
Getting politically homeless people on board
For most of my voting life all of my political knowledge came from the TV and I voted depending on who appealed most from the little that I knew.
Then in 2016 the EU referendum was looming, I realized that this was going to be a really important political event. I also realized that I knew nothing about politics or the European Union, so I set about learning everything I could, about how our political institutions functioned and how the EU was a massively complex, cumbersome organisation that was trying to amalgamate the opinions of 27 different nations, headed up by a top table of unelected bureaucrats. I could see the intention was to make “one size that fits all” decisions and laws, but in reality it seemed the best they ever achieved was “one size that fits nobody”.
My attempts to discuss European pros and cons revealed it was a very emotive subject. Thankfully I realized that the SDP, who’s name I knew of old, actually had policies that I agreed with. At last I had found my political home.
I am not a career politician and I am not from any area of influence. Every time I go to vote, I find the same problem, if there was a box that said “None of the above”, that’s where I would put my cross. Obviously this is not good enough, so I am standing to give voters the opportunity to put a cross by the “SDP”.
One of our main challenges is to somehow force our institutions, academia, councils, NHS, welfare etc. to stick to their core responsibilities and not waste enormous amounts of our money on progressive issues that most people consider to be irrelevant.
Also the taxing of people, who struggle to keep warm in the winter, on attempts to save the planet, when in reality we in the UK can make very little difference globally when the developing countries are building coal fired power stations faster then we can install smart meters.
At the moment the SDP name and policies need to be spread to as many people as possible. I think if we can get people familiar with the party’s policies then we will naturally. So spreading website links and getting people aware of us will be key to starting the ball rolling.
Martin Broomfield, South Cotswolds SDP candidate
The other candidates are as follows:
Bob Eastoe (Green)
James Gray (Conservative)
Owen Humphreys (Independent)
Desi Latimer (reform UK)
Sandy Steel (Independent)
Chris Twells (Liberal)
Postscript (16 July 2024): The election was won by Roz Savage (LibDem) with 22,961 votes, and James Gray (Con) was second with 17,988 votes.
We want to hear your views. Please send any comments to editor@westenglandbylines.co.uk
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