"I will stand up for local people, protect our countryside and focus on the issues that really matter"

Josie McMaster is the Green Party candidate for the Worth Valley by-election to Bradford Council 🟢

My name is Josie McMaster and I am proud to be standing as the Green Party candidate in the Worth Valley by-election. I live in Oakworth, and this is my home. I care deeply about our villages, our countryside and the sense of community that makes this area special.

Like many people locally, I feel let down by politics as usual. At the last general election, we were promised competence and stability – but instead, many families are facing higher bills, stretched services and fewer straight answers.

Here in Bradford, Labour councillors forced through a near-10% council tax rise, the highest in the country. This year they are once again proposing just under 5%. Residents were told it was unavoidable, yet council finances remain under strain and services continue to be cut. People are paying more and getting less.

What is just as worrying is the lack of real challenge. Conservative councillors on Bradford Council talked tough, but when it mattered, they failed to offer a credible alternative.

Instead, they have too often focused on divisive culture-war politics rather than the everyday issues people care about, like the cost of living, local services and protecting our area.

In contrast, Green councillors on Bradford Council have provided real opposition. They have challenged poor decisions, pushed for transparency and produced detailed alternatives, including showing that a lower council tax rise was possible even in difficult circumstances. That is the kind of politics I believe in, practical, principled and rooted in local priorities.

Planning is a major issue in this election. After years of planning rules being weakened under the Conservatives, the new Labour government is now going even further. Their changes risk effectively abolishing green belt protections around villages like ours, opening the door to uncontrolled development on precious countryside.

We desperately need genuinely affordable homes, but they must be built in the right places, with proper infrastructure and a real say for local people. Once green spaces are gone, they are gone forever.

When it comes to the most controversial issues, like the massive windfarm proposed just over the border in Calderdale, the Labour government has tried to silence local voices, deciding that politicians in London will make the decision on whether it goes ahead rather than the councillors local people have elected.

Across Bradford District, Green councillors have a strong track record of standing up for local communities when developments are wrong, when services are under threat and when residents are being ignored. That is the approach I will take if elected.

This by-election was triggered unnecessarily, costing thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money. It was called by Reform UK, a party that talks loudly about waste but has no problem wasting public funds when it suits them. Worse still, their record in local government shows they cannot be trusted to protect services or keep costs down.

In the councils Reform now runs, including Derbyshire, North Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, they have proposed the maximum 5% council tax rises allowed by law.

In Kent, Reform councillors have reduced funding for mental wellbeing services for older people. At Lancashire County Council, they have begun the process of closing five council-run care homes and five day centres that support older residents. That is the reality behind the rhetoric.

Their approach is not about standing up for local people. It is about headlines, division and decisions that hit communities hardest.

Worth Valley deserves better than empty promises and political point-scoring. It deserves representatives who will stand up for local people, protect our countryside and focus on the issues that really matter.