Hello, my name is Angela Wiltshire and I am proud to have been selected as the Labour and Co-operative Party candidate for Hadleigh.

I first joined a Union and the Labour Party when I was 18 years old, 40 years ago, so I'm not going to pretend that I'm not a massive socialist. I'm hoping that the people of Hadleigh will give me a chance to represent them at Suffolk County Council and Hadleigh Town Council on May 6th.

I trained as a Psychiatric Nurse and worked in the NHS in London from 1984. I moved to Suffolk in 2004, when I began working at North Essex Mental Health Partnership Trust in Colchester, and moved to Hadleigh in 2005. I left the NHS in 2015 to concentrate on my Psychotherapy practice, and I have worked in Colchester and from home in Hadleigh since 2006.

I became more actively involved in the Labour Party in South Suffolk for the 2010 general election, and my name first appeared on a ballot in around 2013. I did a lot of work locally for the Labour Party during the following few years and was elected in 2015 to Hadleigh Town Council. I am currently Secretary of South Suffolk Labour Constituency Labour Party. I don't think that it's fair to mislead voters and always declare my political allegiance, I am proud to be a Labour member, I am proud of our achievements and our ambition in Suffolk. There are already a handful of Labour Councillors at Suffolk County Council, and I hope that this time you will give me a chance, give Labour a chance, to represent a slightly different Hadleigh.

-A high-class education for our children is of huge importance, along with support for all residents, from the youngest families to the oldest in our communities, whatever their circumstances are. I would like to see Suffolk County Council caring for all, there are people struggling with their mental health, with making ends meet and coping with meeting their very basic human needs, Suffolk County Council has to be there for them too.

-There also has to be reward for working hard and Suffolk County Council can and ought to create well paid jobs in green energy, safeguarding against flooding and protecting the natural environment. Labour councillors have a plan to do all this and pushes for this on our behalf already.

-Suffolk needs a plan for the environment, Labour will plant 750 000 trees, and create a co-operative green invesment group for renewable energy and clean technology projects. This will reduce the cost to residents.

I know that people in Hadleigh care about the countryside and environment around them, I want to do more to safeguard it, and the connections we have with the villages around us. Tourism is and should continue to be very important to Hadleigh and I want Suffolk County Council to do more to help our own businesses and to help the Tourism industry get back on its feet.

Transport for schools and for working people has to improve. A Labour council will create 'Transport for Suffolk', a not-for-profit organisation that will reform public transport in Suffolk.

We also commit to installing a minimum of 300 rapid new charge points; aid the rollout of electric buses throughout the county; and improve cycling and walking routes, we have to make better use of our shared space in Hadleigh.

LABOUR WILL TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON - safety and perceptions of safety are very important to everyone, but Labour recognises that many women feel trapped and unsafe when the lights go off at night all over Suffolk in an effort to save money. What price women's safety?

You can read Labour's Believe In Suffolk manifesto here...

As well as hoping to be part of an exciting, ambitious and achievable plan for Suffolk County Council, I would be grateful if you would also consider voting for me in the Town Council elections.

While my four years as a councillor were tough, and I happily lost to another political party who promised openness and transparency and had their own ambitious plans for Hadleigh, it hasn't quite worked out that way, has it?

I will be posting more about my Hadleigh Town Council campaign on Facebook and other social media, but rest assured I am standing as a Labour candidate and will not be leaving my democratic socialist values at the door.

Angela's Facebook page here...

Many thanks for reading and for considering a Vote for me, for Labour values and ambition for Suffolk, on May 6th

Angela Wiltshire

*All candidates for county and town elections can send in their biography and manifesto to Hadleigh Nub News via the black NUB IT button on the home page.