The Green Party launch local election campaign from Milbank
17 April 2007
GREENS PREDICT BREAKTHROUGH LOCAL ELECTIONS
The Green Party today launched what looks set to be their most successful election campaign ever. Fielding a record 1421 candidates, the party hopes to make gains across the country.
There will be at least one Green candidate in 64% of the Local Authorities where elections are being contested. Large metropolitan areas like Birmingham and Manchester will have Green candidates contesting every seat up for election.
Dr. Caroline Lucas MEP, launching the campaign, said: "Last year - our most successful local elections ever - almost 10 per cent of people that could voted Green.
"This year, we are set to break through that threshold - with more than 10 per cent of the people that can choosing to vote Green.
"And so we are predicting that this will be our most successful elections ever. With a record number of candidates standing, we are hoping to make gains right across the country."
Dr. Lucas was speaking at Millbank Tower, former Labour party HQ. Also on the platform was Green Party Principal Speakers Sian Berry and Derek Wall, and Brighton councillor Keith Taylor.
Full text of speeches:
Dr. Caroline Lucas -
"These are exciting times.
The Party has achieved an all-time record in terms of the number of candidates standing in these elections to principal authorities - 1,421 - an enormous achievement. That means that more and more people are being given the opportunity to vote Green - and more and more people are grasping that opportunity because they know that it is only the Green Party that has both the radical vision and the practical policies to deliver real social and environmental justice.
Last year was our most successful local elections ever - almost 10% of people that could vote Green, did so. This year we're set to break through that threshold, with more than 10% of people choosing to vote Green, where Green candidates are standing.
And so we're predicting that this will be our most successful local campaign ever. With a record number of candidates standing, we're set to make gains right across the country. There will be Green candidates in 2/3rds of local authorities were elections are being contested. Large metropolitan areas like Birmingham and Manchester will have Green candidates contesting EVERY seat up for election.
We're gathered here in what was, 10 years ago, Labour HQ - the hub of activity of a party that was building up the hopes of a nation. 10 years later, there is bitter disappointment. We have been taken into an illegal, immoral and terrible ongoing war in Iraq, public services are being sold off by stealth, and almost nothing has happened on the most serious challenge we face - climate change. In fact, under Labour, our CO2 emissions have actually risen - up 1.2% last year, the highest figure since 1997 when Labour came to office.
Since that date, 10 years ago, Labour has vacated these offices in Milbank. Now it's time for Labour to vacate local government.
It's Greens who are spearheading a new way of doing politics; Greens are delivering change that will build local economies and improve quality of life, and it's Greens keeping local schools and hospitals open and promising local sustainable energy.
Our 1,421 candidates (often younger than their rivals, and including more women) are people with real experience in community activism and in public sector work, as well as in (small) Green businesses - people that already know how to make a difference in the place that they live.
And so, the Green Party message is this:
The Greens are your One Chance for truth and action on climate change.The Greens are your One Chance for decent schools and housing.The Greens are your One Chance for councillors that make your voice heard.
On climate change, for example, we will oppose more devastating airport expansion and more new road building programmes - and promote affordable, efficient public transport instead.
On education, the Greens will protect schools from cuts, closure and creeping privatisation, and will oppose wasteful, financially damaging PFI schemes.
On housing, we'll make sure that affordable housing is always part of new housing projects, and we'll help ensure that council and housing association tenants get the best and micro-renewable energy and installations.
And we're committed to listening to local people, and involving people in the decisions that affect them. That's why our candidates and councillors are working tirelessly across the country - and we hope to see record gains in this election as a result!"
Keith Taylor -
"On the south coast there have been Greens elected for the last 11 years.
Since then we've grown in influence and expertise.
Over that period people have seen what we have been able to achieve and want more, that's reflected in the steady increase in our vote share at every election, whether it's local, national or European.
Voters have seen us push the council in an ever greener direction.
In our Local Election manifesto our City vision spells out the core challenges to resident's well being, both short and long term. And following the green mantra 'think global, act local' we will ensure every single policy is designed to deliver environmental, economic and social justice.
We centre those policies around the urgent need to tackling climate change, from· Promoting energy efficiency measures in old as well as new buildings· To increasing recycling and reducing traffic in central areas· From adjusting parking permits to encourage people to use lower emission cars and a hundred other ways
There is no one magic solution to prevent the worst effects of climate change, but green councillors everywhere are responding to the call for new thinking and for radical change.
In the last year Brighton & Hove people have seen how we have:· Championed keeping council housing in council ownership and resisting the drift to sell offs which was supported by Labour and the Tories· Spearheaded tougher environmental standards in construction and welcomed the country's first One Planet Living development
In Education
· Brighton & Hove has seen Green councillors defending fairer access for more children to secondary schools, and leading the call for a new city centre school· We've defended schools from closure and protected staff employment rights, and opposed privatisation and City Academy plans
In summary, Greens are proving that no Town Hall is safe without one, or preferably several!
Green cllrs are hardworking and trustworthy, we have the solutions, we are relevant and we have the expertise to deliver much needed change - and that's why more and more people are safe in trusting us with their votes at next month's elections."
Derek Wall -
"Blair and Brown have dashed the hopes of a nation for real action on social justice and an end to erosion of our education and health services.
Instead, Britain has been governed by Tory Party Lite for the last decade.
That is why Green Party cllrs around the country are challenging the Blairite polices of council house sell offs, of piece-meal privatisation of education, and failure on climate change.
The time has come - we cannot afford another 10 years of broken promises and inaction.
Greens offer a real way forward, another way of doing things. Where people are put before profit, where long term sustainability matters more than tomorrow's headlines.
Here in Millbank spin governed politics. People were sold a lie, that Labour really meant to change things. They were never serious about real change. And that is why they have failed,
That is why Green politicians are different:
We are not funded by big business
We are not a party driven by spin rather than substance
We are radical, principled but pragmatic force
With rising emissions, sleazy politicians and public trust at an all time low, principled Green politicians are needed now more than ever.
We can answer the call for change.
Vote Green on May 3rd."
Sian Berry -
"Action on climate change is what you get when you elect Green councillors.
Councils have a lot of power to make the fundamental changes we need.
They can act to reduce people's bills by insulating local homes and their own council houses
They can spearhead green energy and support it through planning.
Councillors from the other parties aren't pushing green energy forward.
In many cases they are restricting it .
Planning approval for wind farms is running at 33% - two in every three projects are being turned down by Labour, Tory and Lib Dem councillors.
That's not something we can tolerate.
While not every scheme is completely suitable, this level of rejection shows an inbuilt hostility to green energy.
Meanwhile Green councillors have taken a very different tack.
Green Councillors holding the balance of power in Kirklees managed to set trailblazing standards for green energy in public buildings in 2005.
They led the UK by requiring 30% renewable energy generated on site by 2011.
New residential homes and schools are already incorporating solar panels and wind turbines and other councils are now following their example.
Council houses in Huddersfield have been equipped with solar water heating and heat pumps.
And the Guardian described Kirklees as 'the greenest of them all.
This year, under a new £14 million scheme, 30,000 homes in Kirklees are getting free insulation, which will see householders reduce their bills by an average of £150 a year.
On Norwich City Council, Green councillors have gained an energy efficiency officer and adopted a 6% annual carbon reduction target for the city - far ahead of national government targets.
In Norwich, this will mean all council houses, buildings and services will play their part in avoiding disastrous climate change.
Norwich will also see a requirement for 30% green energy in new buildings in two years' time.
That's another radical step forward introduced as a result of Green councillors.
In Oxford, £380,000 will be put into making their city council more energy efficient.
An energy manager will help spend £150,000 in this year's budget on efficiency measures in their buildings - and that's match funded, by the Carbon Trust, doubling its impact.
And last year, Oxford councillors achieved a radical breakthrough by introducing a 'climate change planning obligation' -
- a charge that means developers will help fund local energy efficiency and green energy projects.
These are just some of the recent achievements of Green councillors in the UK.
They show that Greens, where they have power and influence over local budgets, put money back into people's pockets and into the local economy.
They reduce people's bills in the short term and reduce council expenditure in the long term.
These Green councillors have empowered people and communities.
They embody the Green way of doing politics.
They are yet another reason why people are turning to the Green Party, and why we are expecting a record result in the local elections this year."
ENDS
