Epsom and Ewell Times is publishing the appeals of the Parliamentary Candidates standing in the General Election for the constituency of Epsom and Ewell. This is the appeal from The True and Fair Party candidate Gina Miller.

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My name is Gina Miller and as an activist for fairness and justice for 34 years, a successful businesswoman over 28 years, mother fighting for my now adult disabled daughter, and a survivor of domestic violence I feel compelled to step into the political arena.

Many think of me as being “that bloody difficult woman” who took two Conservative Prime Ministers to the Supreme Court and won – securing historic constitutional victories and stopping these PMs from putting themselves above the law. But my motivation has always been the same – to speak out when things are blatantly wrong, dishonest, and hurting people.

My years of campaigning has led to successful changes in the areas of special education provision, modern-day slavery legislation, campaign for laws to tackle online abuse, and bringing about changes to stop rip-offs in financial services. My work in the charity sector over the years has also helped improve governance, sustainability, and safeguarding.

The FT called me a wrecking ball – but unfairness, our broken institutions and systems need to be called out. Without integrity, morality, and common decency from leaders we all suffer.

My vision is for a thriving, healthy, happy community. So how do I plan to achieve that?

Health and Wellbeing:

Faced with debilitating pressures on our health and social care services, bringing early intervention, alternative therapies and services, medical MOTs, and mobile services onto our high streets is key. Services to tackle the growing demands on our mental health services, elderly in the community, long term sick, special needs and respite services, people unable to feed or house themselves. Collective community actions that translate into kinder communities.

Enhancing the Local Economy:

As a successful businesswoman, I’m passionate about supporting small businesses, entrepreneurs, and responsible businesses. Creating a vibrant, partnership-led local economy that attracts investment, creates jobs and local supply chains and boost prosperity and community cohesion. For example, encourage our Local Authority Pension Fund to invest into local businesses, infrastructure, and projects. Petitioning the next government for a Local Business Development Fund which would offer grants and low-interest loans. Replacing business rates with a fairer transaction tax for online and bricks and mortar businesses.

Environmental Protection:

Urgent action is needed to protect our environment which is why I am calling for ecocide to be put law, making it a criminal offence for organisations not to take steps to mitigate their environmental damage. Robust challenges to building on greenbelt, protecting our waterways and biodiversity. The Hogsmill River is a place of local pride, however, it has been subject to repeated sewer spills by Thames Water, who continue to make inflated profits whilst local people bear the brunt of these actions.

Under my proposed ecocide law, polluters would be held legally responsible and face fines or prison.

I would also legally challenge the planned development on the Green Belt via a ‘People vs. Planner & Property Developers’ action. The Green Belt is essential in protecting against urban sprawl out of London, air quality and the wellbeing of local people.

Tackling the Housing and Homelessness Crisis:

Contrary to conventional wisdom, increasing housing supply alone won’t solve the housing crisis. I am committed to addressing the housing and homelessness crisis with a human rights-based approach. In my local manifesto I set out a coordinated set of policies to tackle our housing and homelessness crisis. Making homeownership a reality instead of just an aspiration via mortgage reforms, stamp duty and building on brownfield sites.

Our proposed ‘Housing First’ model would give unhoused people the security of a home, providing them with the support necessary to reintegrate back into society, work, and accommodation.

Education:

I am a fervent believer in the power of education as the key to success, compassion, and aspiration. To unlocking social mobility and innovation. But our education system is also broken and is unfit to meet the demands of our rapidly changing world.

We are committed to inspiring students, supporting teachers, and creating a fairer, more effective education system by developing a more flexible curriculum which emphasises confidence, critical thinking, and creativity.

I understand the range of challenges facing children and parents and propose standardising the length of terms, and creating a short summer term that focuses on the arts, sports, wellbeing and building resilience. This would also alleviate costly childcare over the summer, minimise negative influences over children and ensure they are ‘school ready’ when they enter the September term. Creating new T-levels from 13 years old, and a Loan Write-Off Scheme for graduates working in crucial public services such as the NHS, education, civil service, and police.

Crime:

Seek to reestablish a local police station and have more community police out in the community. Introduce more street lighting so women and girls feel safer. Tackle the plague of young people on motorbikes at night, and the growing drugs and alcohol problem – provide places, activities, and clubs for young people to go.

Safer Roads and Pavements:

The state of local road and pavements is abominable, with the UK having the worst road quality in the world – indeed we experience this every day. I want to work with the councils to ensure higher standards or repair and inspections, and on closing legal loopholes that allow them to get way with the shoddy standards that exist.

A vote for me, is a vote for an independently minded, woman of action as your MP – not afraid to fight for you. To be represented by a determined, principled, experienced person with the national profile and experience to heighten awareness and support of this wonderful constituency of Epsom, Ewell, Ashtead, and Leatherhead.

I have never been known to stay silent in the face of wrongdoing, injustice, and unfairness. I won’t stay silent when things need to be done to protect you, your family and community. I would work to champion this constituency and make it a place you are proud to call home.

To be YOUR strong voice in Parliament – nationally and locally, would be my honour and privilege.

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The other candidates:

Conservative who promises to serve “with integrity”

Lib Dems’ Helen Maguire – “Getting Things Done”

The Green promises

Reform candidate for Epsom and Ewell

Mark my words for Labour candidate

A healthy population is the foundation stone of a prospering economy, writes Gina Miller.

Amidst economic and social turbulence, politicians tend to fall back on ‘growth’ as the route to salvation.  But too many forget that growth is not an abstract economic concept – it is real people doing real work – building businesses and keeping our public services alive.

If people are the currency of growth – and they are – then the foundation stone for economic wellbeing is the health and happiness of the population at large.  And we know that 80 percent of an individual’s health outcomes are determined by the social and environmental position they find themselves in.  These social determinants of health (SDH) concern conditions affecting how people are born, grow, work, live, and age.  Outcomes that affect our financial, social, housing, education, employment and environmental systems, infrastructure, and sustainability.

Access to green space; reliable, rewarding work; and a sense of power over one’s own destiny are all critical to wellbeing, both mental and physical. 

Politicians can no longer ignore these facts of life and must start incorporating health metrics in the national measurement of GDP, and from the bottom-up with radical investment and transformation of town centres and local communities.

To achieve that, local government needs far more power and resources.  Keir Starmer, as aspiring prime minister, is talking a good talk on more local devolution in England – but as with so much else, gives us no real detail about how he would make it work in practice.  With the public finances in such a mess, people want honesty about where the money to make a difference is coming from.

At the True & Fair Party, and as part of my campaign to be MP for Epsom, Ewell, Ashtead and Leatherhead, we have a plan and vision of what to do with more local devolution.  We propose a new, modest levy on online and physical retail transactions to replace business rates.  This would have two effects:  first, to create a more level playing field between shops on the high street and the online giants such as Amazon, and second to raise funds for local services. 

With 289 million online card transactions taking place every day, a charge of just a few pennies on each could raise billions and give a shot in the arm to local community funding.  

My health and wealth plan would transform town centres into ‘health and happiness environments’ where high street settings would be used as WE Community Hubs to offer early medical intervention and screening, a range of alternative mental health services, respite services, clubs and facilities for young people, after school clubs, job search/accessing re-training, legal aid provision, debt/financial counselling and assistance to access state support such as pension credit and universal credit.

The Centre for Mental Health has recently recommended that government should routinely and systematically assess the impact of every new policy on people’s mental health^[1].  I could not agree more.

I believe we – here in Epsom and Ewell – could be leaders in the country on this, using new powers to develop new partnerships between the business, charity and public sectors and pilot a Wellbeing economy in our community.

Wellbeing Economy models of this kind have already been successfully implemented in Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Costa Rica, and closer to home in Wales and Scotland.  With a growing number of countries facing the similar issues to us such as an aging, increasingly unwell population, the impacts of the digital revolution and environmental changes, and global insecurity they are looking to a transformation agenda to promote growth, improve public health, shorten supply chains, and create more resilient communities and social fabrics.

After 14 years, the Conservative government is out of ideas. Here in Epsom, Ewell, Ashtead, and Leatherhead, you can choose to be the change.  To make a positive vote at the next election, and enact a plan that can put our whole country on a path to a brighter future.

1. _{https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CentreforMH_PoliciesForBetterMentalHealth.pdf}

Gina Miller, the leader of the True & Fair Party, and her Party’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Epsom and Ewell, has called for the criminalization of ecocide, highlighting concerns over the UK’s environmental stance post-Brexit and its widening gap with the European Union (EU).

The True & Fair Party has become the first UK political entity to incorporate an ecocide pledge into its manifesto for the next general election.

Miller’s argues that Brexit has not only hindered environmental progress but also left the UK trailing behind the EU in environmental protection measures. The proposed legislation aims to define ecocide as a criminal offence, targeting deliberate acts leading to significant and lasting harm to ecosystems.

Gina Miller said: “We were once called the poor man of Europe. Unless our politicians seriously address the need for robust, pragmatic rules and regulations to safeguard our nation against the negative effects of climate change, we will be the dirty, ill, poor man of Europe.

“The WMO is sounding the alarm that climate change is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis. That extreme weather conditions, worsened by lack of action, are leading to food security and population displacement – unfairly impacting vulnerable populations.

“By enacting a law against ecocide, we will be taking decisive action to limit the reckless destruction.

Under her proposed law, major polluters could face severe penalties, including up to ten years in prison or fines of up to £3.85 million. This initiative aligns with efforts in other countries; France has already implemented similar regulations, while the EU is in the process of ratifying an ecocide law.

Recent analyses by the Institute for European Environmental Policy suggest a concerning trend in the UK’s environmental policies post-Brexit, indicating a weakening of regulations on crucial fronts like water treatment, air quality, and industrial emissions.

Miller emphasizes the need for international recognition, advocating for ecocide to be classified as a crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, alongside other serious offenses.

The urgency of such measures is underscored by warnings from the World Meteorological Organization about the escalating climate crisis. Miller warns that failure to address ecocide not only undermines environmental sustainability but also exacerbates inequalities and threatens future generations’ well-being.

Chris Packham, environmental campaigner, said: “It’s a bold, brave and exciting move by the True & Fair Party, to campaign to have ecocide written into law, in the midst of our climate and biodiversity crises. Congratulations!”

Georgia Elliott-Smith, Director of Fighting Dirty, and former UNESCO Special Junior Envoy for Youth & Environment, said: “Embracing ecocide as an international crime is a beautifully simple solution. It ensures the polluters pay for the harm they cause and can be punished as such.”

Miller’s call to action reflects a growing consensus among environmentalists and policymakers: addressing ecocide is imperative for safeguarding the planet’s future. As the UK navigates its environmental challenges, decisive legislative action could pave the way towards a more sustainable and equitable future.

Photo credit: Keith Edkins CC BY-SA 4.0

Gina Miller, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Epsom and Ewell, Leader of the True &
Fair Party, writes for the Epsom and Ewell Times:

The typical property price in Epsom and Ewell is more than £625,000, nearly 50% higher than the national average, according to GetAgent.co.uk. This is happening at a time when interest rates are on the march, rising from 0.1% to 3% in less than a year as the Bank of England struggles to control spiralling inflation.

Little wonder a survey commissioned by the True & Fair Party last month found that rising mortgage and rental costs are the main housing concerns among nearly half – 46% – of Epsom and Ewell residents. This research, carried out by Find Out Now, also found that 21% of residents are worried by the lack of housing supply in the area.

That’s one of the simple truths behind the housing crisis – the UK does not have enough homes. Epsom and Ewell residents clearly understand this. That’s what makes it even more shocking that Chris Grayling backed a Conservative backbench amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that will scrap mandatory local housing targets, making them advisory only. This will further restrict supply and increase prices.

Seemingly unwilling to recognise the extent of the crisis before them, around four dozen Tory MPs signed this parliamentary amendment to scrap mandatory local housing targets for councils. Homebuilding experts everywhere were horrified. Robert Colville, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, renamed this the ‘Destroy the Planning System and Make the Recession Worse Amendment’, arguing it could reduce already low levels of homebuilding by up to 40%. If passed into law, it will certainly worsen the already unfair inter-generational economic and social housing gap.

Carol Lewis, property editor at The Times, was excellent in skewering the self-serving political
rationale behind the rebellion. “Those that support the amendment talk of handing control to local people who are uniformly perceived as anti-development,” she wrote. “However, the reason isn’t because nimbys are blocking development. Planning permission has been given for more than 300,000 homes each year since the target was set in 2016. The problem is they [homes] simply aren’t being built.”

In other words, Westminster politicians should be looking at other issues, such as understaffed planning departments and greedy developers sitting on sites. While aiming to address the issue of inappropriate developments, the rebels have thrown the baby out with the bath water in thinking that abandoning all housing targets will fix the issue worrying their constituents. It will not and their plans will only make a dire situation worse for those they represent. Lewis pointed to the dictum of the great management theorist Peter Drucker, who said: “What gets measured gets managed.” Very true and, if we end up scrapping targets, it is inevitable we will see a sharp reduction in the number of affordable homes. Yet another generation will be condemned to a lifetime of high rents and no home to call truly their own.

The root cause of this political miscalculation is a failure to understand people’s concerns. It is not nimbyism to be concerned about playing fields or historic areas being demolished for housing development. Nor is it nimbyism to understand that the greenbelt is a vital environmental buffer between towns and the countryside. As a group of small business owners told me at a meeting off Epsom High Street last week, they are opposed to urban sprawl, not more homes.

What most of us want is for housing to be properly planned, built with sustainably sourced
materials, revitalising our communities and providing affordable homes that will be within reach for our children and grandchildren. Preventing people from taking their first steps on the housing ladder or sending their mortgages skyrocketing is not an answer to Epsom and Ewell’s housing needs.

That’s the simple truth.

Establishing targets focuses the minds of planners, developers and local politicians. Setting clear guidance for where housing can and cannot be built forces them to think how best to meet those targets, rather than just lazily vacuum up land around the edges of urban areas.

Sadly, Rishi Sunak looks set to cave in to the ill-conceived and damaging amendment, having already pulled a vote on the Bill for fear of upsetting his backbenchers. The misjudgement of the local MP and the weakness of our Prime Minister can only hurt Epsom & Ewell and other constituencies.

Gina Miller PPC for Epsom and Ewell for the True and Fair View Party