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Why should you vote Green on 4th July?

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So the day is finally here. The chance to vote to end 14 years of Tory misrule and see change. But is it really?

Two parties are saying they would provide change, but only one is offering REAL change and REAL hope – The Green Party.

The Labour Party slogan ‘Change’ is so reductive and self fulfilling it’s almost worthless as an electoral ambition. Will Labour provide change? Well yes, if they’re elected as the majority government we will see a change by definition. Where there was once Rishi Sunak, there will be Keir Starmer. A clear change of leader and administration, but is that all we want? Will we see REAL change? I rather doubt it.

Labour’s manifesto suggests otherwise with so many policies seemingly just a continuation of what we have with the Tories. Things like the Bedroom Tax, The Two Child Benefit cap, a continuation of the oil and gas drilling licences granted by the Conservatives, including the highly questionable Rosebank. None of that will change and neither will things like private provision in the NHS or a really progressive tax regime.

So what real change will we see with Labour, or any of the other parties for that matter? It looks like the only thing that will be changing will be the climate!

Even the Liberal Democrats haven’t really committed to change on important things like tax reform or tuition fees which of course they were instrumental in bringing in. Their candidate in Bicester & Woodstock is a well meaning guy, but he was also an adviser to the coalition government during the first period of austerity, as was the Conservative candidate, so not much change for the better there!

Can I win in Bicester and Woodstock? That depends on you, the voters. It’s a circular argument that Greens can’t win so we don’t get votes, but if we don’t get votes we can’t win. But even if I don’t win my purpose is still to raise more awareness of the Green Party and our values. A party I’ve supported for 12 years and voted for for even longer, back when they were even more unlikely to be elected. Since then there’s been a huge surge in support for Greens, something I’ve seen first hand after being elected to 5 different councils as a Green and re-elected to one of those since.

If the Green Party didn’t exist and people hadn’t voted for them, do you think the other parties would have taken any notice of climate change or other Green issues? I very much doubt it and that’s even more obvious now that parties like Labour and the Conservatives are backing away from their climate change commitments because to stick by them is electorally inconvenient.

So the Greens have brought about real change over the past decade and will continue to push for more in the coming years, especially as we are looking set to at least triple our representation in Westminster. Change on things like the NHS, social care, social security, justice, equal rights, animal welfare, nature recovery, climate change and so much more.

I’d of course love to be one of those parliamentarians helping to make those changes, as our new MPs will do through careful lobbying and internal pressure on whomever is in power by the end of this week. But I know that’s unlikely. But every vote for me and every other Green candidate still counts. It counts as part of the message the whole country needs to send to Westminster, even more so as the ruling party is likely to have a majority so large that they probably won’t be in the mood to listen to anyone else.

But I have faith that Greens will always find a way to move the needle and work for positive change. And I’ll continue to do that whatever happens in the polls on Thursday. I’m content to play a role, no matter how small in helping to make the future a brighter place for the next generation. Your vote can help me and every other Green candidate to do that, so I hope you’ll give that thought some serious consideration when you mark that cross on the ballot sheet.

The polls suggest that the outcome to this election is a foregone conclusion. Labour will comfortably win a huge majority and in Bicester & Woodstock the Lib Dems will romp home. If nothing else people will vote for them just to stop them sending any more leaflets! So you can safely vote Green, knowing it’s extremely unlikely to change that outcome.

So more than ever in this election you can vote with your heart to make real change happen. Change that means more than a different name on the House of Commons letterhead. Otherwise we’ll be right back here in 5 or 10 years time, probably with the Conservatives promising the change that we never really seem to get.

As someone else said during this election “If you want change you have to vote for it”. If you want REAL change you have to vote Green!

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What Makes a Green Councillor Different?

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    Green Councillors are different to most other council members. Greens come from all backgrounds and bring a wealth of experience to the job. Many run their own businesses or have done so in the past, so realise the pressures that are put on to small and medium sized enterprises. I co-founded and ran a large retail operation with branches all over the country, so I have a good insight into the problems now facing our post-Covid high streets.

    Many other councillors have come from academia or the various public sectors or just from the same background as the people they represent. I was born to a working family in East London and grew up in South East London/Kent where I attended a secondary modern school in the 70s.

    But the one thing that has driven us all to take on the job of a councillor is a desire to make the world a better place for everyone and a willingness to fully represent and work for the people who have put their faith in us by giving us their vote.

    The Green Party doesn’t operate a party whip.  We always remember we are there to represent the people who voted for us, and we will always put people before party.

    As a District Councillor, I’ve seen first hand how local government can work against the interests of our communities rather than for them.

    Party dogma is the main reason for this with councillors being fiercely whipped, especially by the Conservative leadership.  This has resulted in some frankly bizarre outcomes with residents and council tax payers bearing the brunt.

    The Green Party doesn’t operate a party whip. We always remember we are there to represent the people who voted for us, and we will always put people before party. Green councillors are free to vote how they see fit, which has resulted in far better outcomes for residents.

    For example it only took one Green County Councillor, working across party lines, to secure 20MPH powers for local councils as part of the ’20 is plenty’ initiative. Of course other parties now claim credit for that great achievement, but we don’t mind, as long as our communities benefit.

    The Green Party were one of the first instigators of the 20 is Plenty Campaign

    But it’s on climate change that Greens really lead the way. While we’ve welcomed other parties into the climate awareness fold, they often still don’t get it. They don’t see environmentalism as literally a global issue, preferring to compartmentalise and focus only on their own operations. 

    Of course that’s important, but in the midst of an emergency we have to tackle the problem at all levels, not just those that conveniently and comfortably coincide with other priorities such as exponential growth.

    For all these reasons and many more, voting Green brings positive change for our communities and our planet. Change that’s needed now, before it’s too late.