Rachel Cabral is our candidate for the Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency.

Full statement

Rachel has lived in central Gateshead for 37 years, choosing to make it her home for all of her adult life through working, raising her family and setting up a local business. She loves Gateshead, the diversity and social mix of its urban area coupled with its history, its open and rural spaces and its creative and artistic landmarks. Professionally Rachel had a thirty two year career in the Civil Service giving her valuable insight into how Government works and how it can best service citizens' needs. She took early retirement to set up and run a cafe and empathises with other small business owners rebuilding post-pandemic and dealing with the cost of living crisis. Rachel is very visible in the Gateshead community. She was a school Governor and Chair at a Gateshead school for many years, co-coordinated a network for new parents, runs writing and reading groups for users with mental health issues and has even run singing competitions in the local pub. Gateshead has some of the highest levels of poverty in the UK and Rachel works hard in the community as the lead Green campaigner, advocating for the disenfranchised. She is also a writer of prose and poetry. Having been politically active since her school days Rachel joined the Green Party nearly ten years ago, attracted by its bold and long term environmental policies and because she identified the Green Party, more than any other, as the party for fairness and social justice for everyone in our communities.