WITH just a few weeks to go before the general election, the Malvern Gazette is continuing to profile the candidates hoping to become West Worcestershire’s next MP.

This week, we turn our attention to Samantha Charles, who is returning as Labour candidate having also stood in 2017.

Mrs Charles worked for the NHS for more than 20 years and is now a sexual offences forensic medical examiner, working with the victims of rape and sexual assault across the West Midlands.

At the last election in 2017, she came second behind incumbent Conservative MP Harriett Baldwin, doubling the Labour vote from 2015.

The NHS is at the heart of Mrs Charles’ candidacy as an institution that must be protected.

She said: “My elderly disabled parents relied on the NHS, social care and supported housing before their deaths and my brother, who died of cancer at only 54, was cared for by the NHS at the end of his life.

“My gratitude for the care my family has received has turned into steely resolve to never stop fighting for the NHS and social care.

“I understand how essential public services are for every one of us and how important it is to fight for them.”

Mrs Charles, who is also a Malvern town councillor as well as a Malvern Hills district councillor, said that this election is the “last chance” to take action on climate change.

She said: “This general election is our last chance to radically change course, or face the threat of a hostile and dying planet.

READ MORE: Election 2019 - Meet your West Worcestershire candidates

“The science is clear – we don’t have time to waste. A Labour government will decarbonise our economy by 2030 and transform it for the many.

“Labour’s ambitious plans to rapidly decarbonise our own economy and kick start a Green Industrial Revolution by investing in offshore wind, giving interest free loans for electric vehicles, banning fracking once and for all, putting solar panels on public buildings and upgrading every home in the UK to be warm and energy efficient.

“Climate Apprenticeships will offer training to school leavers and workers looking to change jobs mid-career, creating the engineers, technicians and construction workers we need to transition to a green economy.”

Labour has doubled its share of the vote in West Worcestershire in each of the previous two elections.

2017 Result: 13,375 votes