Banbury candidate interviews: Cassie Bellingham – Independent

26/06/2024

Cassie is an independent candidate as none of the political parties address the key issues she cares about

Cassie Bellingham has worked in the NHS since she was 17, apart from an 8 year period in the Armed Forces. She’s lived in Banbury for around eight years and Oxfordshire for nearly 20.

The former district councillor says she is standing independent of any political parties because none of them have policies which address the key issues that she cares about.

“The primary one is our public services in private hands,” said Cassie. “That’s been the thing I’ve seen up close and personal throughout my career and we all have experienced it as patients know, with our loved ones, the growing waiting lists.

“But its mainly the gaps between services – the commissioning cycle. I work in mental health care and if you fit a particular criteria there’s a service for you. If you don’t, there’s a gap and you fall through that.

“And there’s the very ethics of people making profits off the back of our worst days.

“The second policy is that of “just transition” – a way of talking about being strategic, about planning for our environment, and planning what our industry looks like in a way that doesn’t sweep away people’s jobs and livelihoods at the same time that we’re making these changes.”

Cassie says that addressing the issues facing the NHS does require more money, but not a huge amount, if the money already pumped into the service was used as intended. “I think it needs us to turn the taps off of the money running into private hands,” she said, adding: “The idea that the private sector can meet the gaps in the [NHS] services is ridiculous because it’s the same staff. Ultimately our public sector’s biggest asset is their staff.”

In terms of housing Cassie questions why we are building homes that don’t meet the needs of local people.

“It doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me that we’re building thousands of homes that don’t meet the needs of local people, which are then moved into by people who can’t get their needs met [elsewhere] in Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire. So they are moving here where it’s a bit cheaper and then commute back and forth to work for the rest of their lives. That makes no sense whatsoever.

“What we need here is starter homes and we need homes for end of life, we need more bungalows and more accessible homes for people retiring and wanting to downgrade. And we need more starter properties that are genuinely affordable – not this nonsense ‘80% of market value’ affordable.”

In terms of immigration Cassie highlights that she lives in one of the most multicultural parts of Banbury and moved there for that reason. She says its been used as a punching bowl by politicians as a distraction from their own crises or scandals and them to be honest about the effect less immigration would have on our economy. She said: “I think politicians need to stop scaremongering on immigration and be honest about the fact that without it, our economy starts to struggle.”

For anyone who wonders what impact an independent MP would have in parliament Cassie says this election is very different.

“I’m part of a network of independents running up and down the country that are working together. In Parliament, the value of independent voices is people making the arguments for where the evidence base is. …

“Politics has to operate differently and I think what’s shifting is that we’re going to start seeing campaign groups leading the charge, as opposed to political parties.”

She urges people to think carefully about who they vote for as the new Banbury constituency area at this election offers a unique opportunity to send a message.

“I’m not saying vote for me. I’m saying vote for whichever candidate most represents your views because it’s a unique opportunity … to show everyone in the political spectrum what this new region stands for, and I would say, be brave and do that.”

You can listen to the full interview here: