Following tonight's BBC Question Time Leaders' Election Special, Natalie Bennett said:
“What we’ve seen tonight is a clear example of why we urgently need a real alternative in British politics.
Though the three leaders may sound different the fact is that they all sign up to many facets of business-as-usual politics. Each of the parties on show tonight will continue with the vicious austerity programme that’s harmed so many in this country. Each of them will renew our nuclear weapons system, and spend millions of pounds on a cold war relic at a time when our public services are being slashed. And none of these parties can be trusted to take bold actions to heal our planet like cutting fares on public transport or banning fracking.
Tonight’s show was a poor cousin to the previous debates. Not only were no women involved, but the range of the discussion was incredibly limited. No one was offering genuine alternative to the failed policy of austerity, and no one was truly standing up the vicious rhetoric on immigration that has infected political debate in this country.
The Green party is the only clear alternative. We’re fighting austerity, because it’s wrong that the poor and vulnerable are being made to pay for the mistakes and fraud of the bankers. We’re the only onles pledging to end the privatisation experiment in the NHS – and bring the delivery of healthcare into public ownership. And, of course, it’s only the Green Party that recognise the threat of climate change and pledge to take the action required to build a low carbon economy that works for generations to come.
Greens are the only ones to stand up for the most vulnerable people in society, and across the world. That’s why we’re pledging to end in-work poverty by making the Minimum Wage a Living Wage. It’s why we’ll double child benefit, so no kids in this country grow up in poverty, and it’s why we’ll increase aid spending to 1% of GDP – to fight disease, hunger and inequality abroad as well as at home.
The next 6 days will be crucial. More people than ever before have a chance to vote for the Green Party – and our hugely increased membership means we’re going to knock on more doors than ever before.
Caroline Lucas has shown the difference just one Green MP can make. A strong group of Green MPs will never prop up a Tory Government, and we’ll give Labour a backbone on issues like austerity, trident and climate change.
The Green Party gives a voice to the many people watching tonight’s show who are desperate for an alternative to business-as-usual in Parliament.