I am standing as your Parliamentary candidate for the Green Party.
I am married with 4 daughters and have lived in the area for over 20 years. I am not a career politician, having worked in business all my life, building and leading successful companies across Europe. I am a trustee of the Cheltenham Trust where I chair the commercial Board and am also a director at Foodloose, the town’s community-owned refill and plastic-free shop.
I am standing because the climate emergency, our public services and the most vulnerable in society cannot afford to suffer another 5 years with more of the same.
Cheltenham didn’t have food banks before 2010. We had a functioning A&E, waiting lists for treatment were weeks not years and there were enough GPs and dentists to meet the town’s needs. The outgoing government has failed on nearly every measure it was elected upon. Brexit, levelling up, the economy, schools, the health service, defence, prisons, the reliance on food banks, local government services, the country’s international standing – all worse now than when they took office in 2019. This has surely been the worst government in living memory.
And let’s not forgot where all of this began. It started under the Lib Dem/Tory coalition in 2010 and their policy of austerity.
For too long residents in Cheltenham have felt let down and ignored by their politicians, forced to choose between two very similar parties who were recently in a coalition together. But now, as we feel the force of the rising cost of living and the climate crisis, it is time for real change.
If elected, I will face these challenges head on with bold policy ideas. This includes a nationwide home insulation programme to reduce energy bills, rejoining the EU as soon as possible, a wealth tax on the richest to pay for public services, nationalising utility companies and implementing rent controls and an end to no-fault evictions.
The Conservatives will probably lose this election, all political commentators agree on that. We now have no Conservative borough councillors in Cheltenham and the Green Party are the official opposition to the Lib Dems. We received 10,000 votes in May’s election!
If ever there was an election NOT to vote tactically in Cheltenham this is it.
Vote Green. Vote for Daniel Wilson on the 4th July.
Real Hope. Real Change.