The Green Party are standing candidates in all the local parliamentary constituencies and feedback on their performance at hustings is excellent. If you cannot get along to the hustings take a little time to look at the Green Party manifesto. Canidates are Scott Batrtle (Brent North), Shahrar Ali (Brent Central) and Rebecca Johnson (Hampstead and Kilburn)
You can read the short. mini-manifesto here and if this whets your appetite the detailed version is below:
4 comments:
I wish the Greens all the best from now till may 7th.
the time is right for a change.
but will the electorate be brave enough to make the change possible?
you can be certain Martin
that the press will do all they can to belittle the greens.
maybe cause they are scared that if the greens are given the right to steer Britain out of political and environmental pollution
and actually succeed
the media will be beside themselves with surprise.
give it your best shot Martin and don't stop believing that green is good.
You want to register your vote for the Greens but are worried that by voting Green you might help the Tories win in your (marginal) constituency?
You’re in a safe Tory or LibDem constituency where your Labour or Green vote would basically be wasted?
Then go to http://www.voteswap.org/ to find out how to both register your support for the Greens AND ensure that you don’t get another 5 years of Cameron
Mike Hine
I went to the Brent North hustings at St Cuthbert's Church, North Wembley, yesterday evening (many thanks to Sudbury Court Residents' Association for organising this event, and to Rev. Steve Morris for welcoming the community into his beautiful church building).
One reason that I went was to see and hear the candidates (or at least four of the six, no UKIP or Independent, although the latter sent a short statement - basically "save the NHS" - to be read out) for myself, to help me make up my mind who I should cast my vote for, as I am not a supporter of any one political party. I suspect that Barry Gardiner is the "favourite" to retain his seat, but if I did not want to vote Labour, who of the other three present would be the person I would feel happiest as my representative in Parliament?
I already have had some dealings with Paul Lorber (Lib Dem), and like him as a person, but he sounded a bit defeatist. Saying that it was the fourth time he had stood for Brent North, and that if the votes cast for him on the three previous occasions were added to those he hoped to get on 7th May he might beat Barry, did not inspire me with confidence.
Luke Parker (Conservative) came across as a typical "Tory boy", totally negative about everything to do with the "Socialist" Labour Party, although he did praise the role of Wembley Matters in promoting local democracy! But when his election communication tells me: 'The Conservative Party in Brent North has over 100 members', that again does say much for his chances of winning back the seat for his party, even if I was not put off by his answer to my question on whether his party would be willing to raise income tax.
I have to say that, although he was not as slick as the more experienced politicians he was sharing the platform with, Scott Bartle, the Green Party candidate, came across as a genuine and caring human being, and I would certainly not be put off from voting for him. What have I got to lose? And it might actually help to save a deposit.
Philip Grant.
My response is summed up by this letter in the Guardian after Polly Toynbee advocated a similar tactic:
• Polly Toynbee tells Green party supporters to vote tactically so as to ensure that Labour has a comfortable majority on 7 May (Our rotten system means once again we have to bring out the nose-pegs, 16 April).
But what tactic can we – as Green party supporters – use to vote for something we believe in? We do not believe in and oppose further austerity. But our “tactical” choice seems to be between two collections of cuts – one put together by a Labour-led coalition and the other by a Tory-led coalition.
If Green party supporters adopt this tactic it will simply help to ensure that we will have exactly the same kind of choice in 2020 and beyond. This doesn’t feel to us like a tactic: it feels more like capitulation. It’s time to leave the “old politics” behind.
Our tactic will be to vote for what we believe in. If enough voters adopt this tactic, the pressure to change our rotten voting system will be so great that there will be no need to reach for the nose-pegs in 2020.
Lucy Craig, Gordon Best
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