General election candidates in Banbury put forward their reasons for why you should vote for them

We asked each candidate to submit about 300 words covering the following questions: What local issues are important to you? What ideas do you have for the local area? Why should people vote for you?

Here are the replies we received.

Liz Adams (Liberal Democrats)

I am campaigning for our health services to be properly funded with improved access, for real action to tackle the cost of living crisis, and for better care of our environment, in particular stopping sewage dumping and holding Thames Water to account.

Locally, we have seen the impact of the Conservatives damaging decisions and lack of action on our NHS. I will make it a priority to campaign for a review and reversal of the decision to reduce services at the Horton, including the closure of the obstetrician-led maternity unit. The Liberal Democrats have a fully costed £9 billion strategy to invest and improve in healthcare, including making sure everyone can get access to an NHS dentist. It is appalling that locally, parents are now struggling to even get NHS dentists for children due to the pressure dentists have been put under. I am fighting for the Liberal Democrat plan to invest in other public services to benefit Banbury constituency, including campaigning for a police front desk to be reopened in Witney. Our plans to support local businesses will also help to reinvigorate our high streets and enable new community facilities to be created.

I am also very passionate about SEN and disability provision in education and I have worked for many years on national policy to tackle domestic abuse. I am a family and education law barrister and have experience representing people at some of the most difficult times in their lives, and of representing some of the most vulnerable people in our society, including children at risk. I have seen first hand just how damaging the impact of poverty is on our society. I will not be afraid to stand up for residents and fight for improvement.

People are ready for change and the Local Lib Dem team and I are ready to speak up for them.

Arron Baker (Green Party)

Chipping Norton has been my home for over 20 years. Having worked both locally and nationally, ran a small business, being married with grandchildren, I understand the pressures working families and businesses face. We live in one of the richest countries in the world, yet our nurses use food banks, children’s schools are crumbling, and affordable housing is out of reach. Adding climate change to this further complicates the challenges we all face.Immediate action is needed, and the Green Party is committed to investing to rebuild our NHS to repair the damage that’s been done. We are the only party pledging to eradicate its privatisation. I commit to resolving residents' concerns about the declining state of the Horton Hospital, especially with recent downgrades in maternity care. The hospital’s facilities, equipment, and buildings need drastic investment, and I will ensure the Horton receives this as part of the Green commitment.Our towns and villages should thrive as social spaces and I will support measures to help transform the high street to be a place for people. This will include support for increased policing to deal with Banbury and Chipping Nortons higher than average crime and antisocial behaviour rates.On housing, Bourne Green in Hook Norton is a great example of sustainably built properties centered around community. I will advocate for legislation that prioritises community projects over large-scale developments in the area.Supporting farmers, producers, and growers is crucial as we face environmental change. The Green manifesto will triple support for farmers transitioning away from pesticides, enhancing biodiversity and reducing river pollution. The North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster and FarmED are exemplary models of sustainable farming collaboration.Witnessing the mismanagement of our country over the past 15 years, all of which is evident in Banbury, I felt compelled to stand up and use my experience and knowledge to help residents.

Cassi Bellingham (Independent)

I’m running on a Socialist platform of public ownership, fair tax reform, protecting our environment, and just international policy. I started working in the NHS at seventeen and have over three decades of service in healthcare. Eight of these years were spent as an Army Nurse, working in Field Hospitals in conflict zones.

I have seen the devastation privatisation and austerity have wrought on our public services. As more of tax-payers money is siphoned off into shareholder profits, the services they are stripping bare are close to collapse.

We see this in our water bills and the extortionate profits of energy and transportation companies. Neither main political party is offering a solution to this, and Labour have been championing extending private provision in our health care.

This commercial exploitation is hitting our household budgets, high street, and independent businesses.

Many local issues are created at a national level. I would campaign to remove PFI’s from health and social care, and every service we have no choice in purchasing. Dozens of Western Countries do this successfully. Why can’t we? I would fight to restore planning decisions to local control, so local decisions can’t be overturned by national inspectors.

Due to boundary changes, we are a new constituency, making previous election results irrelevant. Now more than ever we need to vote for our values, and not for whichever seems the lesser of the evils on offer.

This may be the first time you hear a candidate NOT ask for your vote!

I urge you in this election to vote for whoever most aligns with your values, irrelevant of their chance of winning. Every party will be looking at this election to see what our voting pattern looks like. Make your vote count. Make sure they see YOU, not a tactical choice.

Chris Nevile (Climate Party)

The major local issues of interest to me:

Housing: We need a greater supply of lower cost housing without compromising on sustainability and be fit for the future. Developments should have clean energy infrastructure (Southill Community Energy project in Charlbury is a great example) and access to areas where people can play sport, grow fruit and vegetables and foster community engagement.

NHS: My family and I have experienced the great services of local medical and Horton Hospital staff. The problems of funding and delivering that are the same across the country and we need to separate vital current spending to improve day to day service and a longer term plan to make the NHS fit for the next century. This needs to be cross party and open to calm apolitical debate.

Schools: I would like to see ecology, food and sustainability as part of the mandatory curriculum. If we teach our children what constitutes a “sustainable life” we equip them better to lead healthier ones.

Employment: I would like to see greater investment in our technical colleges and apprenticeship schemes. This would provide better qualified workers for local businesses. Local construction and infrastructure projects need many thousand of workers right now and in the future.

Local rivers: Dumping raw sewage and other pollutants in our local rivers must stop and be part of county wide environmental action.

I believe that nothing is more important for Banbury and Britain than delivering a better environment and a clean energy revolution. We have a plan to achieve this. Amazingly none of the other parties do.

If you agree, send the message by voting Climate Party.

Victoria Prentis (Conservative)

I was born at the Horton General Hospital and have lived in the area with my family ever since. I am so proud to have represented Banbury at Westminster for the past nine years and have always been a vocal supporter of the area I call home.

The Horton is my top priority. Since I was elected in 2015 I have focused on making sure we have quality healthcare that is kind, safe and close to home. I have fought hard for key services to remain at the Horton and put pressure on the local NHS Trust to make sure the maternity unit is safe for expectant mothers. It is important that we retain and grow local health services at both the Horton and the Chipping Norton War Memorial Community Hospital.

Ensuring children have the best start in life is very important to me. I will continue to speak up for fairer funding and investment in school facilities. I am determined to see improvements in special educational needs provision. Other priorities include improving our public transport network and getting the council to fix our potholes, rather than wasting your council tax on projects that make driving more expensive. I will be your voice on housing, slowing down the pace of development so that our infrastructure can catch up and so we can protect our beautiful countryside. My family has long farmed locally. I know that food production and environmental sustainability go hand in hand and I will continue to campaign for this balance.

We have achieved a great deal, but there is more to be done. We have seen record investment and very low unemployment. I have a strong local track record and a secure plan for our future. I want to continue representing you and make sure your voice is heard in Westminster.

Declan Soper (Social Democratic Party)

The need for adequate and affordable housing is an important issue for me. We are seeing unprecedented high prices for new "affordable" homes and wages have not risen to meet them. The SDP will reintroduce a programme of social house building to solve this demand, giving everyone, and especially young families, the opportunity to live and thrive in their own place.

I would like to see better connectivity with Banbury and the surrounding towns and villages with things like more frequent and later bus services. There's also the issue of the dwindling highstreet with more and more shops in Banbury being moved to out of town retail parks, which makes Banbury a bit harder to navigate.

Britain is broken. I was born in 1997, right when Labour under Blair, promised "things can only get better"; 27 years on, I feel like I must've missed this memo. Successive governments headed by the two major have only offered limp managerial solutions to Britain's problems. However, the SDP, with our Homecoming Manifesto, promise a bold and ambitious future for Britain. Here are just some of our pledges:

- We will re-nationalise the "natural monopolies" of gas, electricity, water, and rail.

- We will establish a British Housing Corporation which will be responsible for building 100,000 new social houses per year, much needed for our young people who are struggling to move out. There will also be a moratorium on buy-to-let mortgage that price out those with little.

- We will cut net migration down to 50,000 a year; 750,000 that we saw in 2022 is an unsustainable figure and we can't go on like that.

- We will encourage and nurture home-grown British industry, which will supply jobs and boost our struggling economy.

Paul Topley (Reform UK)

We tried to contact Paul Topley on a number of occasions but we did not hear back from him.However, we still wanted his views to be heard so here are some words from the Reform UK website.Despite record levels of debt nothing seems to work properly anymore. Immigration is out of control and the smuggling gangs make a mockery of our border forces. Our water companies pollute our seas and rivers whilst paying massive dividends to overseas shareholders. They too have huge debt and a creaking infrastructure.Those promoting the woke agenda have saddled our hardworking public servants like nurses and teachers with huge amounts of box ticking which eats into time that should be spent on the front line. Our forces have been pared back so hard we would struggle in any conventional war as currently taking place in Ukraine.Like everyone else I have become totally exasperated with the malaise we find ourselves in. Then I read Reform UK’s policies, and they are like a breath of fresh air. They are just good old fashioned common sense which is what we’ve all been asking for during these years of Conservative infighting and mismanagement.Raising the starting point of income tax to £20,000 whilst reforming the benefits system will help millions of economically inactive people back into work that benefits their mental health as well as their bank balance, knocking onto a gain for society in general.The Tories have failed and a lurch to socialism is not the answer. That is why I not only joined Reform UK but put myself forward to stand to help get this great country of ours back on track!Paul loves his fishing, shooting and following football and cricket. He is a keen cook and grows his own fruit and veg as he strongly believes in eating locally sourced, in season produce.

Sean Woodcock (Labour)

After 14 years of decline under successive Conservative Prime Ministers, it’s time for change.

I am proud to call Banbury my home and as your Member of Parliament I will work tirelessly for the people of Banbury, Chipping Norton and the north Oxfordshire villages.People are tired of being let down by a Conservative government that is out of ideas and no longer serves the interests of the country. It is clear that people are ready for change and Labour is ready to deliver.But we can only deliver change by delivering a Labour victory here. At the last election, Labour received more votes than the Liberal Democrats and the Greens combined. A vote for anyone other than Labour, increases the chance of five more years of Conservative decline and more of the same.As a Banbury lad, nothing would make me more proud than to have the opportunity to serve as your Member of Parliament.Banbury has so much potential, particularly great transport links and proximity to drivers of economic growth in the Oxford to Cambridge Arc.Yet it retains significant deprivation while lacking vital infrastructure and seeing services close, in the case of Banbury courthouse, or be downgraded in the case of the Horton Hospital. The Tories have let Banbury down.The downgrade of our hospital on her watch should be a stain on the record of Victoria Prentis. I know that fighting for the Horton Hospital is vital to our community and I’ll do everything I can to make sure that it gets the investment it needs to support everyone here.

Banbury deserves a representative for it in Westminster, not the other way around and that is what I am determined to be.