Helen Belcher – Liberal Democrats

Helen’s journey began in west Reading, where she grew up in Burghfield Common, a proud member of our community. Her dedication to advocacy has been widely recognised, having stood for election with the Liberal Democrats in Berkshire and Wiltshire. She has consistently campaigned for robust local services and environmental issues, standing against Conservative cuts and fighting against issues like sewage dumping and the Conservatives’ culture war. In 2023, her commitment to the transgender community earned her an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List.

Reflecting on her selection, Helen expressed her delight, stating, “I grew up in this constituency, so in many ways, this is a homecoming for me. I’m thrilled to have this amazing opportunity to represent this beautiful area. For too long, people in our area have been let down by the Conservatives…”

Helen brings a wealth of experience to the table. From her early days as a secondary school teacher in Leeds to her ventures in IT as a systems analyst, she has navigated diverse landscapes. In 2004, she founded her computing company, which provided innovative solutions to FTSE 100 companies, employing around a dozen staff before she sold the company in 2019 to focus on her campaigning efforts.

Helen’s Pledges for Reading West

• Sort out the NHS
  The NHS has been in a permanent state of crisis for years.  It’s breaking at every level: key personnel aren’t being paid enough, meaning that people leave the profession, which means the rest are overworked.  But there’s a wider crisis at work: adult and social care is on its knees too.  Any medical professional will tell you that prevention is better than cure.  Helen will fight for a root-and-branch fix for our whole care and health system, including restoring NHS dentistry, putting mental and physical health on an equal footing, filling vacancies to cut waiting times, and working for better integration of our social care systems with the NHS.
• Sort out the economy
  The cost-of-living crisis is bringing whole communities down.  Inflation is coming down but is still dangerously high.  For too many people, the country is fundamentally broken.  Helen will fight to restore fairness to the system, making the taxation system fairer, helping people by bringing down the cost of living, and investing in our country’s crumbling infrastructure, which will also provide more and better jobs.
• Sort out the environment
  The climate crisis is making itself felt through droughts, extinctions, and floods even before the water companies started pumping sewage into our rivers.  Helen will fight to reform water companies like Thames Water into public benefit companies, forcing them to invest in their networks and stop sewage dumping before they start paying millions of pounds in bonuses or dividends to their shareholders.  She will fight to halt the decline of our natural environment and ensure the UK recommits to CO₂ reduction to protect the planet for future generations.

Other areas Helen cares about
Helen’s background is as a campaigner for civil rights, first in the Leveson inquiry into press intrusion and phone hacking, and later for the rights of trans people, for which she was awarded an OBE in 2022.  Helen is passionate about the civil rights and freedoms that help define our society, and will be vigilant against attempts to roll them back.  She will fight for fair votes, ensuring that no-one has to vote tactically and all votes count equally.  She will fight to end the cynical culture wars funded by the far right, and stop the demonisation of minorities, refugees, and protestors.