The Green Party will be fielding a candidate in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, to be held on 13 January. The Green candidate will be Peter Allen.
Local campaign manager Cllr Ian Barker, who recently joined the Green Party from the Conservatives, said today:
"By-elections are notoriously difficult for smaller parties as we have to compete with the election machines of the big three parties, all of which can bring much bigger resources to bear. And the Green Party has far less of a track record in Oldham than in places like Brighton, Lancaster, Huddersfield or Leeds.
"But the by-election will offer us opportunities to recruit more members and to do some groundwork to start building the local Green Party."
"Greens have a lot to offer people in Oldham and Saddleworth"
Peter Allen continued:
"The Greens have a lot to offer people in Oldham and Saddleworth. We have policies that a lot of people instinctively warm to when they hear about them.
"Policies like investing for job-creation - promoting a new Green industrial revolution that could restore UK manufacturing industry and take the lead in renewable energy production and create large numbers of jobs while cutting CO2 emissions.
"And policies like protecting the Royal Mail and the NHS, free education, making the wealthiest people pay their fair share of taxes, cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion.
"There are a lot of traditional Labour and Lib Dem voters who much prefer these Green Party policies to what Labour and the Lib Dems are offering."
For more information on the campaign in Oldham East and Saddleworth please visit the Oldham Greens.