The Green Party candidate for Melksham and Devizes has said that the privatisation of water companies in the UK is a “failed experiment”.

Catherine Read is originally from Wales but has spent the last 30 years in Wiltshire, where she has “made her home”.

Previously a clinical radiographer working in the NHS, Ms Read became involved in her community as a school governor and parish councillor, setting up a full-time nursery and BMX riding facility in Bromham.

Now standing to represent Melksham and Devizes in parliament, Ms Read plans to apply that local knowledge to her campaign.

(Image: Catherine Read)

According to her, an increased focus on climate change in recent years coinciding with becoming a grandmother pushed her to become involved in politics.

She described herself as “passionate” after a career in the NHS and said she would lobby for “proper funding” to bring down waiting lists.

Ms Read reported wanting to end “the creeping privatisation” of healthcare and supports bringing water utilities back into public ownership.

She said: “No other country really has done this. To me, it’s a failed experiment. Why would you want to privatise something that is so vital to us?”

She added: “We’re getting contaminated water, in the future we might not have enough drinking water, they’re putting sewage into the river. I just don’t think that is acceptable in any shape, way, or form.”

Ms Read believes that focusing on the climate crisis will help to solve other issues, such as lowering the cost of living.

She said: “If you could insulate homes and put solar on them, that brings down the cost for people that live in those homes.”

She noted that the Green Party would fight for a universal basic income, minimum wages of £15, and an uplift of universal credit by £40.

Ms Read listed another priority as working to suggest alternatives to developments proposed on greenfield sites.

She stated: “Current governmental policy is an attack on nature with failed climate promises. I am optimistic that this can change. Only the Green Party has a credible plan to address the major problems we face.”

Ms Read concluded: “I’m sure that every candidate, like me, wants to do their best for their communities and that’s why they’re standing.

“But what I would say that differentiates me is that I will put the climate ahead, I will put getting a better world ahead of everything else.

“What are we if we don’t have our planet, if civilisation collapses?”