Helen’s priorities

Helen will fight hard to represent the people of Exmouth and Exeter East in Parliament and to create a fairer, greener and more positive future where everyone, regardless of their background, can achieve their potential.

Whilst there is so much to do, Helen’s key priorities are: rebuilding trust in politics, prioritising the environment and investing in public services.

Rebuilding trust in politics

Helen’s professional background is as an employment lawyer and she is now a workplace consultant. She trains leaders and advises global and local businesses on workers’ rights and creating positive workplace cultures. Helen understands the importance of fair, transparent and accountable leadership. She wants to use her professional skills to tackle the toxicity of politics and represent and advocate for the community to listen to and ensure diverse voices are heard and championed in Parliament.

Helen has been actively looking to change politics and stood, coming second, in the County council elections for Wearside and Topsham in 2021. She has been the Women’s branch chair for Exeter CLP for over 4 years.

Helen is a champion for all aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion and this is a key feature of her work. She is passionate about equality and champions the rights of parents and carers. As a founder member of the charity Pregnant then Screwed she helped lead and chaired a march for better parental leave and childcare. She is also part of the MotheRED project to help get more women with children in to Parliament in a bid to stop the toxic culture in the commons Meet the mums standing for Parliament under plan to tackle toxic Commons culture – Mirror Online.

Helen is also champion of social mobility and has been quoted in the press on her work to tackle socioeconomic bias in the interests of people, business and the economy. She recently was a key speaker at a Power of Inclusion event led by the Lord Mayor of the City of London. She recently featured on BBC World Service – People Fixing The World, Speaking up at work  for her work on speak up cultures and reframing whistleblowing.

Helen is a fellow of the RSA: royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce which is a global network of changemakers enabling people, places and the planet to flourish in harmony.

Prioritising the environment

Helen is passionate about protecting the environment and tackling climate change on a global, national and local level.

From a family of sea swimmers and surfers, Helen has been campaigning for cleaner rivers and seas for a number of years and has been an active member of Friends of the Earth, Exeter Labour for a Green New Deal, Surfers Against Sewage and Friends of the River Exe.

She has arranged and led campaigns and events to raise awareness of the sewage and pollution in the River Exe and the local coastline. Working with Friends of the Earth Exeter, their campaign got national press coverage and took petitions to South West Water.

She chaired a hybrid event Our water: from the city to the sea bringing together national and local politicians and experts to discuss and address the critical issue of clean water ways.

Rebuilding public services

The impact of austerity and lack of investment by this government in our valuable public services was highlighted during the pandemic and has been severely felt by all. In particular, Helen wants to address issues in NHS and social care, housing and transport and education.

• NHS: With family and friends working on the frontline of the NHS, she has seen the impact on staff and patients of failure to fund and support the health and social care services that desperately need investment.
• Housing and transport: Helen is a member of a group in North Devon, where she grew up, looking to ensure affordable, sustainable housing and she understands the challenges that can be created in an area dependent on the tourism sector and with a high number of second homes. Living in the area of EEE, she also understands the need for more reliable, safe and green transport options for those able to use them.
• Education: As a parent and founder member of the 93% club representing state school educated people, Helen is heavily invested in the state education system. In her work on social mobility, Helen has seen a disconnect between the education system and the skills needed for a growing, future economy. She has worked with school leaders to bring outside speakers into schools to enhance learning and life skills.
  The SEND provision in Devon has desperately failed families. Helen wants to support the creation of an inclusive, future focused education system that prioritises children’s, families’ and educator’s mental health and well-being in everyone’s interests. She has worked with South West parent groups to create networks and highlight their work. Valuable support to help parents help their children through lockdown | Midweek Herald