Firstly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this today, taking part in a conversation which has deep implications for our communities and our Forest.

Full statement

I hope that today you will choose to support me in having an impact across our communities, speaking for the many and not the few.
Before I continue there is one thing I can promise you, that tomorrow I will continue fighting for the Forest of Dean, representing the Labour Party in the heart of our communities as I have done for thirty years.
I am of the Forest and I am for the Forest. I have always put the Forest First.

The biggest challenge facing the Forest and the world, is climate change. Let me make it clear, if I was your representative in parliament, I would put the protection of our environment at the heart of every policy and every department. No to nuclear in the long term. No to fracking, now, or ever! Tax the biggest polluters, reward ethical practice and start with nationalising our transport, re-nationalise our utilities, and re-nationalise our NHS!

The key to meeting the climate challenge is education, local, national and global. Embedding sustainability in every profession, every curriculum area and in everyday life, it is the only logical way forward.
Every career aspiration and every technological advance must be balanced against its impact upon our environment.
I thoroughly support Corbyn and Rayner’s national education service, ridding us of the blight of academisation, expand and reinvigorate our school curriculum and re-investing in our adult skills.

The future of our public services rests in the success of our national education system. The future Labour government faces the biggest challenge of any government since the second world war. We must reverse 10 years of austerity and rebuild our welfare system from the ground up

Let’s return the NHS to 1945 principles.
Let’s create a national care service.
Let’s re-invest in children’s services, supporting those most in need.

The Tories have punished those with disabilities and learning difficulties, we will celebrate them.

We must reverse the cataclysmic housing crisis. The Tories have made so many people of all ages homeless and destitute on our streets. I will continue to campaign to abolish restrictions on council house building and support moves to enable councils to re-purchase old stock.

Everything we plan rests on our industry and economy.
And the future of our economy lies in Europe.

Let me be clear, I campaigned for remain, I voted remain and I believe in remain. I respect the result of the advisory referendum and I respect the right of the legitimate government of the UK, to have negotiated a deal. But they have failed to secure the support of parliament. We must return to the people. I would advocate for a confirmatory vote in which the Labour Party and our socialist comrades across the continent will campaign to remain.

We should be leading Europe not leaving Europe.

We must confront the stark divisions in the country and we need to relearn the politics of negotiation, co-operation and collaboration. It is these principles that have driven me throughout my three decades as a Labour Councillor and it is these principles that would inform my actions as your MP. On that basis and when the time comes I ask each and every one of you to cast your vote for the Forest, and for Di Martin.

It is said that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but I beg to differ. I didn’t expect nor intend to run for a prospective parliamentary seat, but as Labour Group leader, and as a woman, it is my honour and duty to do so.
I am not an expert in every field, but I can still learn. And my health is not great but let it be known, I may have body of a weakened survivor of cancer, but I have the heart and stomach of a socialist, and a socialist Forester at that.