The Green Party has offered its congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn on becoming the leader of the Labour Party.
Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, said:
Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, said:
"The selection of Corbyn, combined with the remarkable Green surge of the past year , and the SNP's successes in the Westminster election, shows just how many people support an alternative to austerity economics, a head-in-the-sand approach to our environmental crisis and our tired, business-as-usual politics.Caroline Lucas added:
"The Green Party shares Corbyn’s opposition to austerity, Trident nuclear weapons, and the sell-off of public assets and will be delighted to work with his Labour Party and others who share our views on these and other issues.
"The Green Party is committed to standing up for migrants and refugees and calls on the new Labour leader to challenge the government’s feeble and inadequate response to the global refugee crisis.
"In addition, we hope to engage Corbyn and the Labour Party in discussions about the urgent need for electoral reform. As the May 2015 General Election proved, our outdated and unrepresentative system fails both democracy and the electorate.
"We hope Corbyn will encourage his supporters to join with us and other campaigners working on these issues, and, in particular, on pushing the issue of climate change to the top of the political agenda ahead of the upcoming Paris talks."
"The Green Party’s doors continue to remain open to those who want to create a new kind of progressive politics, working, as we have been consistently for decades, for a society in which no one fears not being able to put food on the table or keep a roof over their head, while we all collectively live within the environmental limits of our fragile planet."
“Jeremy’s success in this contest is a real boost for progressive politics. For the first time in my memory Labour will be led by someone who stands up for the radical changes demanded by the challenges we face.
"I am looking forward to working with Jeremy to provide a concerted and strong opposition to this Government and to push for the constitutional changes, like reform of our voting system, that Britain’s multi-party, devolved political system demands.
"I will also be urging him to join me in championing urgent action on climate change and building an economy that works for our children and grandchildren - two of the greatest challenges we face."
13 comments:
MOHAMMED BUTT DECLARES ' I WILL NOT SERVE IN A CORBYN SHADOW CABINET'.
Mike Hine
MICHAEL PAVEY DECLARES: 'I WILL. JUST GIVE ME A COUPLE OF MINUTES TO RECALIBRATE MY CORE VALUES'.
Pavey says i dont have any values. Who ever wins
I reckon that one of the greatest triumphs of this 'left wing surge' is that today BBC tv has acknowledged the existence of the Morning Star, from having its new Sunday edition including in the newspapers on BBC Breakfast to even having Morning Star editor on a panel with Polly Toynbee and a Sun journalist on the Andrew Marr Show!
Meanwhile, I note that David Blunkett favoured Caroline Flint as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Blunkett and Flint have had a great deal in common in being financially backed by private corporation money — former Education & Employment Secretary Blunkett by A4e to the tune of £30,000 pa, and Flint by a lobbying company that includes workfare profiteer Maximus among its clients Lobbyist firm connected to Maximus dabbles in Labour Party Deputy Leadership campaign? (Whatever next?).
But in 1998, before Blunkett became a 'consultant' to workfarist A4e, a Community Care magazine piece said Blunkett's advance as a disabled person to Cabinet office was a great advance for disabled people. To that I replied that in Cabinet Office, Blunkett's position could be likened to the 'Judas steer' that led other cattle into the slaughterhouse time after time in 19th Century American cattle drives.
Corbyn's line on 'welfare reform' is fortunately very different.
Dude Swheatie of Kwug
No need for a Green Party now - lets all join Labour. To do otherwise would just be ego and vanity.
The Labour group in Brent now have to change direction. Either to match Corbyn values or out of the Labour party. Labour has spoken and we have rejected careerist marketing / PR types to politics of substance.
I'm sure that a great number of Labour 'careerist marketing / PR types' are 'recalibrating their core values' as we speak. They'll go whichever way the wind blows. Most of the old guard of New Labour, nationally and locally, were once considered 'left' because that was the thing to be at the time. The thing about Corbyn is his authenticity and Tom Watson has a proven record of commitment as his work in the Murdoch enquiries showed. They'll all be judged by their actions but it will be as hard as ever to separate the 'authentics' from the time-serving fakes.
Meanwhile let's just be happy that we've seen the back of Tory policy advocates like Reeves, Hunt, Kendall etc.
'Rejoice!' as a certain bicked witch once said.
Mike Hine
Now Corbyn's in I wonder if Cllr Butt will still consider WembleyMatters 'The enemy' or a vital place to visit for help & advice on how they should be running the council :)
Sounds like you're Labour-ing under a false idea of what The Green Party is. A key distinction before your eyes is symbolised by the name 'Labour'. Its a party of industrialists believing in the myth of unrelenting perpetual growth consuming resources.
Green politics are eco-centric so believe there are environmental and social limits to growth. Kate Rahworth's doughnut economics provides such a model where the aim is to raise social standards but within the planetary boundaries (See http://www.kateraworth.com/). As opposed to being Labour or work centric, Green policy aims to increase wellbeing giving equal worth to species we share the planet with.
Another pillar of Green politics is grassroots democracy - all policy is made bottom up by the members as opposed to on the hoof by special advisors and the whims of banks & business. I understand Corbyn wants to make Labour more democratic, which is good but to do so and implement the rest of his policy, especially in parliament he'll be reliant on authoritarian (and anti-democratic) means - namely his chief whip.
The Green Party has no whip and whilst there are socialists within the party there is also an eco-Libertarian streak. E.g. The Green Party supports a land value tax as individuals have an equal right to common assets and as such they do not belong in private ownership. (https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2012/11/09/%E2%80%98fair-and-progressive%E2%80%99-land-value-tax-would-help-stabilise-property-market/)
Whilst socialists lean towards the unfettered power of the state, Green democracy policy is about localism:
PA100 All decision-making and action throughout all levels of government, including international government, shall be governed by the principle of subsidiarity: namely that nothing should be done centrally if it can be done equally well, or better, locally
(https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/pa.html)
There's a stark choice coming up in the Mayoral Elections. Sadiq Khan was selected as Labour Mayor Candidate and used to be chair of the campaigning organisation Liberty. Yet once elected as MP Sadiq went on to attack civil liberties and voted the opposite of each liberty policy he used to profess. This included a vote to restrict the right to protest, despite knowing full-well that Liberty was founded due to government attacks on the right to protest. Whereas the Green Party has always been strong on civil liberties and human rights.
People within Labour are saying that Corbyn can't win the next election. This means another 5 years of Tory government unless people leave Labour and look for other solutions like the Scottish did with the SNP. Though I have to say its much better having Labour as Green-lite rather than Tory-lite!
I believe the real challenge for Greens is having the money to compete. As an example my expenses in Brent North were nearly £800 but Barry Gardiner spent nearly £25k to win his 'safeseat' (including £90 on a minion to fold leaflets for him!) Green spend per vote was significantly less per vote across Brent than the Labour Party so imagine if we had a fair state funded political system. We spend more on a monarchy than it would cost to implement this! Green Party resources will continue to increase and we'll be putting in a strong challenge for council seats in Brent.
If you look at the result in Corbyn's constituency this general election, both Caroline Russell (the green candidate) and Corbyn increased their shares of the vote. This shows there voters want something truely different. With Tony Blair (as agism has left the party) and David Miliband waiting in the wings to return and join Chuka Umunna in bringing back New Labour, its going to be interesting times.
I stopped reading after your 2nd sentence when I recognised your argument as being the one my classmate Chris Whitfield advanced in my Torquay junior school when I told him I was a Labour supporter in 1955: 'Don't vote for them, Labour means work'.
You may have upscaled your name to Scott Mapesbury-Green, Chris, but I know who you really are. Must meet for a drink to discuss old times at Shiphay Juniors.
Mike Hine
So its just ego then
Cllr Butt thinks everyone is the enemy thats the problem
Your mate Chris has probably got a better bank balance than I :)
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