What do you plan to do in order to make sure you remain “in touch” with the electorate?

I live in Salisbury and would make every effort to ensure constituents could reach me. I am a keen campaigner. I would keep abreast of Salisbury City Council business and developments through my Green council colleague.

What makes you the best candidate for this constituency?

I represent what people actually want. Green policies take a long-term view and put fairness at the centre of everything we do. I am the only female candidate and take women's interests very seriously. People are fed up with parties which sound – and do – much the same as each other.

What has the current member achieved that you believe has been successful?

I have no doubt at all that John Glen is a hardworking MP. What is so frustrating is that he sticks to the Government line on almost everything – including austerity cuts on the poor – and he does not focus on the most important issues.

In your opinion, is austerity working?

Austerity is imposing hardship on the most vulnerable members of our society and is being pursued with vigour by the Coalition government. The hallmark of this Government's tenure is a widening of income inequality. Now, Britain's wealthiest 1,000 people control wealth equivalent to one-third of total economic output, or £519bn.

Many people are concerned with the cost of living in the UK, with wages having failed to rise in line with the price of food, energy and rent in recent years. How can this be corrected?

The Green Party is campaigning for a Living Wage of a minimum of £10 an hour, to be fully implemented by 2020. We would replace Council Tax with a Land Value Tax (which would be levied against landowners, not residents). We would scrap VAT in favour of eco taxes which would be tied more to the environmental impact of products rather than a blanket tax on goods and services. What measures do you think need to be taken to decrease unemployment, particularly youth unemployment and those who have never been employed?

We would campaign for the New Green Deal – a major government investment in the new infrastructure needed to tackle climate change by moving to a low carbon economy. This would create, we estimate, up to a million new jobs, and would develop the new skills we need among our young people.

Does the lack of diversity in Parliament equate to a lack of representation?

It is a particular concern to me that men outnumber women four-to-one in Parliament. Women make up just 22 per cent of MPs in Westminster. Women should be equally represented and key policies would be different if they were – less government bias towards supporting the arms trade and Trident, for example.

If an EU referendum were to take place, how would you encourage your constituents to vote and why?

We believe it must be radically reformed to create a more democratic and accountable Europe – with a clearer purpose for the future.

But it must urgently change direction, away from an obsessive focus on competition and free trade and towards placing genuine co-operation and environmental sustainability at its heart.