The man who's offering Norwich the chance to make history by electing one of the first Green Party MPs launched his campaign with a party on Monday night.
With Labour popularity at a low ebb, Green Party deputy leader Adrian Ramsay is determined to unseat the former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, in the Norwich South constituency at the coming General Election.
Among his backers will be former local Labour activists who helped get Mr Clarke elected in the past. One of them, former Labour councillor Andy Pearmain, introduced Cllr Ramsay at the launch party. Other former Labour and Lib-Dem councillors were also on the guest list as well as Green Party members and supporters, representatives of local businesses and charities and people from the community who've worked with the Greens to resolve local issues.
The party took place at one of Norwich's landmark buildings, the medieval merchant's house known as Dragon Hall. There was a different kind of dragon in attendance when members of the Hung Sing martial arts school performed a traditional Chinese dragon dance to bestow good luck. Guests enjoyed food and drink donated by The Greenhouse café, and music from two bands.
Green Party members are in buoyant mood about Ramsay's chances. Green support in Norwich has been building every year since 2002 and the party now has 20 local government seats across Norwich - all but two of them in Norwich South.
On Monday night, Adrian Ramsay set out his values and vision for Norwich which he believes will take Green Party support to the next level, making him one of the first Green MPs. Adrian said:
"One more Labour, Conservative or Lib-Dem MP toeing the Party line in Parliament is not what Norwich needs. Norwich needs an independent voice - of the type we used to have in Ian Gibson - to ensure it gets noticed."
Adrian Ramsay also announced that he would be standing down as leader of the Green Party group of councillors on Norwich City Council in order to focus entirely on the General Election campaign.
He has held that job since he was first elected to the council in 2003 at the age of 21. Norwich Greens will elect a new council group leader at a meeting on December 7th. The post has added significance since the Greens aim to overtake Labour in the local government elections next year to take control of the council for the first time.
Notes to Editors:
The vote share in Norwich South in the 2009 local government elections was:
Green Party 34%
Lib-Dems 25%
Conservatives 22%
Labour 18%
UKIP 1.5%
Changes in City/District council representation corresponding to Norwich South area since the period going into the 2005 General Election:
Green Party up 8
Lib-Dems down 11
Labour no change
Conservatives up 3
- The Norwich Green Party has 13 Norwich City Councillors (Labour 15, Lib-Dems 6 Tories 5) . It has 7 Norfolk County Councillors serving 7 of the 13 Norwich county wards. In the 2009 European election, the Green Party secured more votes than any other party in the Norwich City Council area, gaining 25%.