New Green Deputy challenges Charles Clarke over privatisation
07 September 2008
Adrian Ramsay, the Green Party's first-ever Deputy Leader, has made his debut speech to the party's annual conference in London, launching an attack on privatisation and patient charging in the health service. The 27-year-old Norwich City Council opposition leader is aiming to unseat Charles Clarke in Norwich South and challenged the vocally pro-privatisation Labour MP to fight the election on public services.
In the closing keynote speech of the conference, Cllr Ramsay celebrated the work of Green councillors across the country in defending local economies, tackling homelessness and repossessions, and cutting energy bills and fuel poverty. He also reinforced Caroline Lucas' call for an energy windfall tax to kickstart a Green New Deal to tackle recession and the fuel crisis.
Cllr Ramsay said: "The government is now being offered advice on public services by Charles Clarke, and if they were to take his advice we would see even more social exclusion and even more privatisation when it comes to public services.
"In July, Clarke called for more user-charging in the health service and education system. He claims it would be for what he calls non-core services - but I don't regard education for under 5s and over 16s or out of hours GP visits as optional or unimportant. And I challenge Charles Clarke to tell any parent in Norwich South that childcare and healthcare are not core services.
"Charles Clarke has been in the news in recent days for his comments that the Labour Party is facing disaster at the next General Election. He says the Labour Party needs to change direction. Well, the government does need to change direction but not in the direction he has in mind.
"Journalists have been asking me why I think Mr Clarke is so personally concerned about the next General Election. It could be because the Green Party finished in first place across his constituency in the May 2008 elections - and if Mr. Clarke wants to fight the election on the future of public services, that's fine with me."
In the 2008 local elections, the Greens came first in vote share across the Norwich South constituency, beating Labour by some 3000 votes. They became the first Green council group to become the official opposition, just two seats behind the ruling Labour group.
With his Norwich colleagues, Cllr Ramsay has defeated an unpopular Tesco development in the city on four separate occasions, and are preparing for a fifth fight. He said:
"Greens across the country have been working tirelessly protecting local shops and services, and standing up to large multinationals and supermarkets. Tesco is one of the most powerful corporations on the planet. It has a turnover of billions, the ear of the government and the top lawyers in the country. But, when Green councillors help communities organise, we can do what it takes to win."
Cllr Ramsay congratulated Mid Suffolk's Andrew Stringer on delivering hundreds of affordable houses:
"Everyone has a right to a secure, affordable home. And across the country, Greens have been helping to win people this right. In Mid Suffolk, Green councillor Andrew Stringer worked for two years to get more affordable housing in his area. And there are now more than 100
affordable houses being built each year in the district.
"Greens have also taken the lead in protecting Council housing. Green councillors in many parts of the country have led campaigns to keep council housing in public ownership and resist Government incentives to privatise. And we will carry on ensuring everyone has a decent home.
"Labour's failure to reform housing benefits and the right to buy, to get empty properties back into use and to build council houses has literally left people out in the cold. But Green Councillors everywhere are saying this must stop. Because we believe that a house isn't just an investment. A house is a home."
Supporting Caroline Lucas' call for a windfall tax on oil profits, Cllr Ramsay also stressed the importance of immediate action at a local level, such as that delivered by Huddersfield Councillor Andrew Cooper:
"In November 2006, Andy Cooper, drew up proposals for a scheme that would provide free cavity wall insulation to every householder in Kirklees.
"Since then, more than 11,000 homes in Kirklees have received free insulation - more than in the whole of greater London during the same period. As a result, the average family heating bill will be reduced by around 150 pounds per year. Nearly 200 new jobs are going to be created in Kirklees, and a new training centre for cavity wall installers is up and running already.
"Imagine this project scaled up to a national level, with real, worthwhile jobs being created all over the country. People given work helping other people - helping them save money and energy.
"Everyone needs a warm, dry home, and every town needs an Andy Cooper."
Cllr Ramsay concluded by endorsing the Green New Deal - an economic and environmental plan co-authored by Caroline Lucas. He said:
"The overlapping events of the credit crunch, soaring oil prices and the costs of climate change threaten to develop into a crisis of a severity not seen since the Great Depression, with potentially devastating consequences.
"The solution, as Greens have realised, is investment in the things our country needs now. Renewable energy. Energy saving. Local food production. And the thousands of new Green collar jobs that these positive measures will create.
"Green Councillors around the country are securing investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy measures. Greens are pushing councils to take carbon reductions seriously, putting in place annual target and effective strategies.
"But to promote the positive answers that the Green New Deal would provide, we need Greens in Westminster."
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