Featured Candidate: Samantha Pancheri
14 April 2015
In the run up to the General Election we will be giving you the opportunity to get to know some of our candidates. Our key candidates and spokespeople can be found here.
This year we will be standing in over 90% of seats in England and Wales.
Our featured candidate for Milton Keynes South: Samantha Pancheri
Why are you standing for the Green Party in Milton Keynes South?
Milton Keynes is a fascinating town, with so much potential for leading in way in terms of sustainable affordable housing, renewable energy initiatives, transport, and local enterprise, but over the years it has gradually slipped away from being a pioneer in this respect and is now rated the sixth most unaffordable place to live in Britain. I've lived here for 5 years, and am so eager to be part of the movement to bring MK back to forefront of the changes we need to see to how we build houses, use energy, get around and create jobs. When I look back over some of the promotional material that went out when Milton Keynes was still very new, it talks so much about hope and a brighter future for all. This is exactly what the Green Party want to see all over the country, and I would be so proud to see Milton Keynes out there leading the way.
What are your three top priorities if elected?
Securing funding for our hospital and healthcare provision. MK Hospital is stretched beyond capacity and cannot cope with how much the town has grown in recent years, but there is so much confusion over the finances that people in the area have no idea what the future holds. We're a growing town - hopefully to be designated a city at some point! - and we need a hospital that meets those needs, with enough GPs surgeries to back that up.
Pushing for more affordable and social housing options. There are over 40,000 social housing tenants in MK and a rising number have been hit hard by the "bedroom tax" because there is a vast shortage of housing here. Private tenants are finding it harder to find and keep their homes, because there is so little available and rental costs have gone through the roof just in the last 5 years. We need more houses to be built, and not for wealthy investors and buy-to-let landlords.
Campaigning against cuts to local council grants from central government. Milton Keynes Council passed a budget with £22m of cuts recently, and there's another £70m yet to come - but our public services and voluntary sector are already operating on a skeleton framework. The coalition government have cut back the grants given to local councils whilst simultaneously increasing their responsibility - two moves voted for by MK South Conservative MP, Iain Stewart. This is unsustainable, and it is a priority of mine to work for more funding for councils and more decision-making power about how that money is used.
What made you want to get involved in politics?
It was actually feeling very disenchanted with the political system that prompted me to get more active! I took a "Vote for Policies" quiz, having been a Lib Dem supporter my entire life but feeling I couldn't bring myself to vote for them anymore, and came out almost 100% Green! I was stunned, as I knew nothing about the Green Party, so I went to look at the website and fell completely in love with what I read - so I joined there and then! A couple of days later I was invited out leafletting with the local party, and haven't looked back since.
What's your favourite thing about your constituency?
The diversity of people, history and culture. I live in Bletchley, which has a very proud history in Bletchley Park and the WW2 codebreakers. We even have a pub called the Enigma Tavern! People often think of Milton Keynes as being a completely new town, but actually the older parts are fascinating.
Who is your political hero?
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. I remember studying her in my history class at school, and feeling so inspired by everything she accomplished. She was the first woman to be Mayor and the first woman magistrate in Britain - not to mention the first Englishwoman to qualify as a physician and surgeon, co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women and the first dean of a British medical school. Her story really stood out to me as a young girl, and has inspired me many times when I've felt that being a woman might ever hold me back in life.