KAREN Lumley, 41, is married to Richard and has two children, Elizabeth, 19, and Christopher, 18.

Elizabeth is at Swansea University and Chris is at NEW College in Bromsgrove.

The couple own a geological consultancy company and live in Brockhill.

Mrs Lumley grew up in Rugby and worked for Ford before she married nearly 20 years ago. After marriage, she lived in Wales for 15 years and managed an engineering company.

She has been both a district and county councillor and fought the Redditch Parliamentary seat in 2001.

She says: "This election is extremely important to the people of Redditch. I believe there's still much to be done here.

"I would vote against the revaluation of our houses by Labour, which would mean even more council tax rises. Did you know that since 1997, council tax in Redditch has gone up by 84 per cent?

''I want to give our pensioners over 65 in Redditch up to £500 back on their council tax year on year.

''I want an education system that is fair, not one where children in Birmingham get an extra £700 more than children in Redditch. Teachers and equipment cost the same. Why aren't our kids treated the same?

''I also want to see the professionals who run our hospital trust decide our priorities for the Alexandra Hospital, not Whitehall, and scrap these ridiculous targets.

''And it is not racist to talk about immigration. It is a huge problem and one we must tackle before it's too late.

"This all is a huge task but one I'm up for. Do you really want another five years of talk from Mr Blair?"