Before delving into tax policies, it’s crucial to examine our national budget. With an annual expenditure of £1 trillion, we have a significant responsibility to allocate resources wisely. My experience in local governement has shown me that this does not happen as nobody scrutinises existing spending.
I advocate for transparent, evidence-based decision-making that prioritises essential services, infrastructure, and welfare. We must strike a balance between investing in public goods (like education, healthcare, and transportation) and maintaining fiscal discipline.
Our tax system should be progressive, ensuring that those with higher incomes contribute proportionally more. This promotes fairness and reduces income inequality. Simplifying tax codes and minimising loopholes can enhance revenue collection efficiency. Strategic tax incentives can encourage investment, innovation, and job creation where required.
In summary, I believe in a fiscally responsible approach that maximizes the impact of our budget while ensuring fairness and sustainability.

My personal connection to this issue is through my husband, who is an immigrant. Immigration brings many benefits including talent, skills and labor. Immigration bolsters our economy and enrichs our cultural fabric.

The levels of immigration are set by government through visas. In 2023, approx 1.2million people immigrated to the UK. With over 500,000 people emigrating during that same period, net migration stood at close to 700,000.
While immigration brings undeniable benefits, we must also address sustainability. Current levels of immigration, is putting additional strain on public services, housing, and infrastructure. Cutting levels of immigration will impact on the viability of Universities and the provision of services in our health and social care sector. 
As an independent candidate, I advocate for a balanced approach that considers both the benefits and challenges of immigration.
The UK has accumulated a large backlog of asylum cases. Slow asylum decision-making is financially costly and hampers refugee integration.

The language you hear in Parliament is due to the fact that the parties are “whipped” so MP’s are not able to speak freely on this matter. The parties are compromised by their sale of arms to Israel, their relationship with America and lobbyist groups that pay large sums of money into the party. I am not compromised by any of those things. Our language in Parliament is really important and I categorically do not agree with the language used in relation to Gaza. I call for an immediate ceasefire and for Palastine to be freed from its oppression.
In February 2024, I talked about Gaza on my podcast.

I voted to remain in Europe as I believe in community. Now that we have left, it is essential that we rebuild our relationships and trade deals in Europe.

Housing is now unaffordable for first time buyers. Private rentals have increased dramatically and the demand for social housing far exceeds supply. There are hundreds of households in Somerset in temporary accommodation and more than 10,000 people on the housing register. Young people can now neither afford to buy or rent a property. With a background in housing, this is an area I am passionate about. 

I will work alongside the local authority, developers and our communities to ensure best outcomes for new developments. This includes the protection of our environment, consideration to flooding and the development of supporting infrastructure to meet the needs of our growing communities.

I am a strong advocate for our local businesses. I actively use and promote them and I have developed many relationships already across the constituency. Issues that have been highlighted are the over-regulation and complexity for small business owners and the difficulties in recruiting reliable staff.

I will champion the Wells and Mendip Hills unique characteristics of our geographical area to encourage continued investment. We need to address the barriers of those who are currently not in employment and support them to access work.

I have worked for the NHS. This is an area that needs addressing in parliament. One of the reasons I am running as an independent is to advocate for respectful debate and decision making. All of the parties believe in having a good and functional NHS but are unable to work collaboratively to find a way forward.

We need to reduce waste and ensure a more efficient and well run service that supports our staff working in the NHS and enables the public to access the service in reasonable timeframes. I have extensive experience with mental health services. The support we offer is not fit for purpose. CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health service) for example offer a 6 week program when the recommended duration is 12 weeks. If we are going to provide support for people we must follow the recommendations by the mental health services. We need to be more proactive with mental health service provision rather than firefighting.

Education needs a cross-party and long term working plan to secure good provision for our children now and into the future, taking into consideration projected population profiles. OFSTED is no longer fit for purpose. It puts immense unnecessary pressure on teachers and does not address any of the real needs. Furthermore, schools have to fund pay rises from their existing budgets. Teachers are leaving the profession and those that stay are not supported to use their creative skills to teach our children. There is a lack of effective and
meaningful accountability for those schools adopting the academy structure. None of these issues can be addressed with polarising party politics. We need to collaborate to find solutions.

To address the issues related to schools funding, I will work closely with Heather Shearer and the Liberal Democrats at Somerset Council to ensure that all of our schools receive appropriate funding and resources.

This item has come up repeatedly in parish meetings. Our bus service is extremely limited and unreliable. I am already in partnership and supportive of the Wells Bus Users Group. I will work in partnership with our two unitary authorities to support the improvement of public transport which in turn would relieve traffic congestion.

We need to ensure that infrastructure development meets the needs of our growing population. This is another common topic at parish council meetings where housing developments have been completed without supporting infrastructure. This must be taken into our planning with future developments to support our growing communities.

I am committed to our environment. We stopped flying as a family in 2018 to reduce our carbon footprint. We need to be far more proactive in protecting our environment whilst also supporting our farmers in the constituency with food production. I have already developed relationships with many farmers and the Mendip Hills National Landscape and the Somerset Wildlife Trust. I will continue to work with these organisations and others if I am elected to champion environmental issues in balance with our farming community.

We need to use the right land for the right purpose. Good farming land needs to be used for farming. Other areas need to be utilised for our renewable energy. I think that the term Net Zero has been hijacked. We can be intelligent about this rather than just tick our green box. The two priorities are not in conflict but need careful balancing.

Abi talks more about the environment in this episode of her podcast.

I supported saving our local library as a town councillor while also broadening its remit and maximising use of the facilities. If necessary, I will repeat this across the constituency. These services are important to our communities. However, we do have to be realistic about how we fund and run these services. Looking to the future I believe they need to be community-led rather than provided at unitary level.

As a former police officer enhancing public safety and reducing crime is high on my agenda. I think the police service has lost the ability and resources to investigate crime effectively. For example, here in Shepton when
the Town Council reported an arson in the park with accompanying CCTV, it was not investigated, and the nearest cell block is a 45-minute drive away. I will work alongside our newly elected police and crime commissioner and local police officers to promote public safety and the reduction of crime.

The provision of adult social care is broken. There is a lot of repetition, lack of timely and appropriate assessment and a reliance on agency staff and resources. These are expensive and do not provide a consistent and a well thought through package of care. There are significant savings that can be made here if we adopt a more proactive approach and reduce waste in repetition. We must nurture and support staff by drawing up long term cross party plans instead of relying on short term and reactionary measures.

I am extremely experienced across the health and social care sector having worked in the NHS, social services, education and housing. I will work both in parliament and alongside the constituencies’ two unitary authorities to deliver services that are both cost effective and high-quality across the health and social care sector. We must work collaboratively and cross party to address these challenges.

I have door knocked over 23,000 homes all through the winter in freezing temperatures. Many people answered the door to me in their overcoats, hats and gloves. Too many working families are now reliant on food banks for necessities. This is not acceptable in a country that has the 6th largest economy in the world. We must be realistic about this issue and work collaboratively in parliament to find solutions to address this now fundamental problem.

To tackle low wages and poverty, we need to live in a more equal society. We need to apply a trauma-informed approach to recognise the discrepancies with access to education, employment and overall quality of life. This is another important item where we need to work collaboratively towards sustainable
long-term solutions.

As with public safety, I have been a police officer so this is high on my agenda. Our voices are being reduced in society. This increases anxiety and leads to more radical behaviours. It is essential that we promote honesty, truth and transparency in our media and amongst our elected politicians and debate in parliament without the influence of the whip to ensure we pass legislation that is fit for purpose.

Many communities are already positively self-policing with support. We must always promote and facilitate strong communities that in turn result in a reduction of crime and increased pride over where we live.

As I am not subject to a party whip, I will accurately and vocally represent the constituency in parliament whenever necessary. I have visited every parish council. Having door knocked over 23,000 homes I am already well aware of the areas where our communities need to be supported.

I am already engaged and connected with all of the communities and parish councils in the Wells and Mendip Hills. I have developed relationships with almost all of the unitary authority councillors from all parties. I will continue to build on this so that I am present and representing our city, town and villages across the constituency effectively.

These are three very sensitive topics where it is essential that we have healthy debate that is non-judgemental, evidence based and unbiased to ensure the formation of appropriate legislation. The political parties are compromised in these discussions by the influence of the whip. It is essential that we put our party politics to the side when discussing these important issues, listen to the experts and find a way forward.