The Green Party launches today its campaign for the English local elections on the theme: Get Britain Working.
The launch comes in the week that a YouGov poll indicated that 34% of the public are considering voting Green in the Euro-elections - only days after a poll by ComRes in which 43% said they were likely to vote for one of the smaller parties. Both local and European elections will be held on 4th June.
Adrian Ramsay, deputy leader of the Green Party, said today: "The Green Party's local policies are intended to support our Green New Deal plan for a million low-carbon jobs to tackle the recession and the climate crisis at the same time."
"But when we say Get Britain Working we also mean get the nation's communities working in every respect. That includes making sure we have the services communities need, from the local post office and police station and local shops to an accessible health service, including a free NHS dentist."
"Some of these things require action at national level, but local councils should use whatever powers they have to protect and support local communities and foster the local economy."
He concluded: "The Greens are the only party offering a fresh alternative to all the sleaze and greed. But we're also the only party putting forward a positive vision for Britain and for our local communities. We hope people who are disillusioned with the bigger parties will consider voting Green not just as a protest, but because our councillors have a pretty good track record and our policies are what most people want."
On 4th June. the Greens will be fielding 781 candidates - up from less than 585 in the previous equivalent set of elections (1) - and are "quietly confident with regard to gains."
The Green Party currently has a total of 119 primary authority councillors - a number that increases steadily every year, and has trebled in the last decade - including strong, well-established council groups in places like Brighton, Lancaster, Norwich and Oxford.
The Green Party's key policies for the 2009 local elections are:
- Work to address the causes of crime and anti-social behaviour, including poverty, joblessness, poor housing and the lack of community facilities for young people.
- Prioritise sustainable job creation, with the main areas including home insulation, public transport infrastructure, renewable energy, local food production and/or farmers markets, and green waste management.
- Work to ensure all subcontracted council employees, such as school cleaners, are paid a Living Wage.
- Fight the closure of essential services in our communities, such as post offices, libraries and police stations.
- Oppose the further privatisation of services through contracting out, as this has led to a loss of accountability and reduced service quality.
- Oppose the privatisation by stealth of schools through the Academies and Trusts agenda.
- Work to introduce free school meals for all children.
- Improve the local economy by supporting small businesses and farms and by encouraging residents to support shops in their local community through ‘buy local' campaigns.
- Invest in the upkeep of existing allotments, parks and green spaces, and make better use of under-utilised spaces near to where people live and work.
- Scrap new road-building to enable investment in public transport, cycling and walking, including safe school travel programmes.
--
Notes to editors:
1. The Greens are contesting 792 seats in total: 781 seats in county/unitary scheduled elections, which is 33.05% of the total, plus 10 district/borough/ity by-elections and one mayoral election on June 4th. Taking into account the fact that there are 53 district/borough/city/MBC authorities with 63 by-elections between them on this date, the Greens are contesting 32.2%% of the total number of seats up for election. The Green candidates are 60.69% men and 39.31% women.