Green Party Spokespeople
To interview our spokespeople please contact the Green Party press office: press@greenparty.org.uk
Phone: 020 3691 9401 (Journalists only)
Co-Leader & Work and Pensions: Jonathan Bartley
Jonathan Bartley is a campaigner who hit the headlines during the 2010 general election when he confronted David Cameron over his plans for disabled children.
Jonathan is frequently seen and heard on national radio and television on programmes including BBC1's Big Questions, BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 2's Jeremy Vine Show. He writes for The Guardian's Comment is Free and is a regular newspaper reviewer for BBC Radio London. He has also written for the Times, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph and was a regular contributor to Radio 4's Thought for the Day.
@jon_bartley
Co-Leader & Environment and Climate Change: Caroline Lucas MP
Caroline Lucas is the UK’s first Green MP and represents Brighton Pavilion.
She previously served as a Member of the European Parliament, and between 2008 and 2012 was the Green Party's first ever leader.
Caroline is a member of the Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee, scrutinising proposals such as the Green Investment Bank and plans to embed sustainable development in every Government department. She is also a founding member of the influential Green New Deal group.
For media enquiries please contact Caroline’s press officer, Matthew Butcher, on 07885 459 904 or by email to clucasmedia@parliament.uk
Deputy Leader & Culture, Media, and Sport: Amelia Womack
Amelia is the deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales and Co-Chair of the Greens for Europe campaign.
Amelia currently lives in Cardiff and holds a BSc in Environmental Biology and MSc in Environmental Technology. She has campaigned across a broad range of issues including TTIP, youth engagement and climate change. At the age of 31 she is the youngest leader of any UK political party.
GreenAmeliaWomack
Home Affairs: Shahrar Ali
Dr Shahrar Ali was Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales 2014-2016. He entered green politics after working as a researcher in the European Parliament. Shahrar has a PhD in philosophy, in which he tackled the morality of lying and deception, with attention to public life. He is editor of Why Vote Green 2015 and recently featured in a Ted talk.
On Home Affairs, Shahrar has been a champion for civil liberties and an outspoken critic of successive governments' assault upon them, whether the illicit use of shoot to kill or the criminalisation of free speech. He has campaigned for the release of British detainees held in Guantanamo and for the right to protest without fear from kettling, water cannon or state intrusion. He has defended minorities from race-based policing and the Islamophobic effects of the Prevent programme.
Website: http://shahrardeputyleader.weebly.com
Wales: Grenville Ham
Grenville Ham took over the leadership of the Wales Green party in April 2017. Grenville is an expert in renewable energy and has won numerous business awards and accolades throughout his career. Grenville was awarded a British Empire Medal by the Queen for ’Services to the Renewable Energy Industry in Wales' . He has raised over half a million pounds for community projects in mid-Wales and understands the needs of local businesses to succeed.
EU Relations and Economy & Finance: Molly Scott Cato MEP
Molly Scott Cato is Green MEP for the South West of England and Gibraltar, elected in May 2014. She is a former Professor of Economics and has published widely, particularly on issues related to economics and finance. She is now a member of the Economics Committee in the European Parliament.
Before being elected as an MEP, Molly led the Green Group on Stroud District Council and was Chair of the Council’s Audit Committee. She was also previously campaigns director on the Party’s national executive and spent several years as co-chair of its regional council.
Justice: Charley Pattison
Charley Pattison is a barrister practising in criminal and employment law. Charley graduated from Aston University with a First Class degree in Business Administration and European Studies, and spent a period of time working for a large multinational professional services firm. Motivated by her concern for social and environmental justice, Charley left her job to pursue a career as a barrister where she prosecutes and defends in the criminal courts in a variety of cases. She also represents claimants, through their trade unions, at employment tribunal.
Charley sits on the board of trustees at the Avon and Bristol Law Centre, is on the steering group of the Bristol Immigration Detention Campaign and has recently been awarded a scholarship to intern at the European Court of Human Rights for three months starting in the Autumn of 2016.
In her spare time Charley is a keen surfer and cyclist, having recently cycled to COP 21 in Paris from Bristol. She is also secretary for the Making Waves Foundation.
Migration: Jean Lambert MEP
Jean Lambert has been London's Green Party MEP since 1999. Her areas of focus include free movement, asylum, migration, equalities, climate justice and green jobs. She sits on the European Parliament's Committees on Employment & Social Affairs and Civil Liberties, and chairs its official delegation for countries in South Asia.
Jean is Co-President of the Parliament's Anti-Racism Intergoup. She is patron of human rights theatre company ice&fire, and sits on the Council of the civil liberties organisation Liberty. She has produced numerous publications, most recently on TTIP, the refugee crisis and air pollution. Jean co-chairs the Green Party's Greens for Europe campaign to remain in the EU.
Health: Larry Sanders
Larry is a trained Lawyer and Social Worker. He campaigns for a healthy society, poverty reduction, decent housing for all, and the insulation of every home. He is especially proud of Caroline Lucas’ Bill to reverse the privatisation and fragmentation of the NHS.
His experience includes:
- Member of Oxfordshire County Council Adult Care Scrutiny Committee
- Non-Executive Director Oxfordshire NHS Mental Health Trust
- Project Director Oxfordshire Carers’ Forum
- Legal Advisor Oxfordshire Community Care Rights
- Chair Oxfordshire Healthwatch
- Lecturer in Health and Social Care Law
- Officer Oxfordshire Keep Our NHS Public
Education: Vix Lowthion
Vix Lowthion is a secondary teacher with 17 years experience. She has been a humanities teacher, head of Citizenship and PSHE and is currently teaching sixth formers in a Further Education college. Vix is studying a part time BSc with the Open University.
She stood in the 2015 General Election for the Green Party on the Isle of Wight where the party saw a 1000% increase in votes.
Peace & Defence: Rebecca Johnson
Rebecca has been engaged in British and UN politics as a feminist peace activist for many years, promoting equality, social justice, disarmament and environmental responsibility.
She is Executive Director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, co-chair of Compass Greens, Vice-President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and former Co-Chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). She holds a PhD from the University of London (LSE), is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and works on international security with the UN.
Transport: Caroline Russell
Caroline Russell is a walking and cycling campaigner based in London, specialising in advocacy on behalf of pedestrians. She has campaigned successfully for 20mph limits on main roads in Islington, and works to promote active travel by reducing road danger and air pollution while creating more people-friendly streets where the public health benefits of walking and cycling can be enjoyed.
She was elected as the sole opposition councillor in Islington in May 2014, representing Highbury East Ward.
Website: highburyonfoot.blogspot.com
Business, Innovation & Skills: Rachel Collinson
Rachel has been an entrepreneur for nearly twenty years, including a short lapse into academia. In that time she has created dozens of jobs, helped start-up businesses succeed and inspired hundreds of young women to consider a career in technology.
Rachel entered politics in 2014, having watched the coalition government savage her industry and destroy the profitability of hundreds of thousands of small firms like hers. She hopes to add the fresh thinking, paths to innovation and job creation that this country needs.
She believes that SMEs are the engine of the UK's future prosperity. Rachel has seen from the coalface how the Green Party puts the interests of small businesses ahead of large corporations. She is among few politicians to have first-hand experience of what entrepreneurs need - particularly those with reduced life chances - in order to progress careers and generate wealth.
Science & Technology: Esther Obiri-Darko
Esther Obiri-Darko is a Chemist and has over 15 years’ experience as a Secondary school Science and Chemistry teacher. As the Tooting Green Party Parliamentary candidate in the 2015 national elections, she trebled the Green vote and is currently the newly selected Wandsworth and Merton Green Constituency GLA candidate.
She is an active member of UN Women London and Women Worldwide Advancing Freedom and Equality and has campaigned alongside local Women’s Rights groups and NHS medical staff to protect access to a Uro-Gynaecological unit in her local hospital. A year long expedition across Africa exploring the social and economic ramifications of conflict and witnessing the effect of Climate Change to villages and towns, led her to investigate the use of alternative Green Technology for travel. This resulted in her organising the first Waste Fuel car rally across Europe.
Energy: Andrew Cooper
Andrew Cooper was elected to Kirklees Council in May 1999 as a Green Party Councillor and has been re-elected four times in the Newsome Ward.
He proposed the UK's first universally free insulation scheme which saw over 50,000 Kirklees homes insulated.
He now works for Tadea UK developing innovative energy projects in the North of England.
Website: www.greeningkirklees.blogspot.co.uk
Equalities (Women): Sarah Cope
Sarah is a long-term member of the Green Party, and has researched and written many of its policies, including those on mental health services, child sexual abuse prevention, maternity services, breastfeeding support and childcare.
From 2012-2015 Sarah was the Chair of Green Party Women, the women's sub-group within the Green Party. During that time she took a case to the high court asking for a Judicial Review into the issue of job-share MPs. Sarah continues to campaign on this issue as job-sharing would open up parliament to more women, those with caring responsibilities and people with disabilities.
Sarah works as a freelance journalist and has previously worked for the BBC as a radio producer. She lives in Highgate, North London with her partner Daniele and their two children. Always involved in local campaigns, in 2010 Sarah launched a campaign to demand better anti-suicide measures at a well-known suicide spot.
Sarah currently volunteers with the charity Women for Refugee Women as well as visiting and supporting women in immigration detention at Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire.
Equalities (LGBTIQA+): Aimee Challenor
Aimee Challenor is the Chair of LGBTIQA+ Greens, she is also a Trustee for Coventry Pride, and volunteers for National LGBT Charity - Stonewall, on their Trans Advisory Group.
She has previously received a Stonewall Youth Volunteering Award for her work to tackle homophobia and transphobia in her community, and helps organise Coventry’s annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. In March 2016 she recieved an award from the High Sheriff of the West Midlands for her cultural contributions.
Aimee strongly believes in advocacy of gender equality and LGBTIQA+ rights, and opposition to Austerity and TTIP. Aimee blogs on trans issues for the Huffington Post, and lives in Coventry.
Equalities (POC): Rashid Nix
Rashid has worked as a Mentor Coordinator at Westminster Race Equality Council where he designed programmes targeting under achievement in BME students. He has also served on Westminster’s diversity team advising members of the Met Police on effective engagement with London’s ethnic communities.
In 2004 he trained as a cameraman/director at BBC, but pursued a freelance career and ran filmmaking classes for inner city teens, whilst running his mentoring consultancy. Rashid is known for his 2010 film, Why Don’t Black People Vote?, which explores political apathy in modern London, and is recognised as a housing campaigner, supporting resident and community organisations alike.
Since 2012 he has been a member of South London and Maudsley Trust assisting sufferers of mental illness.
Disability: Mags Lewis
Mags Lewis worked in the NHS until 2013 in a variety of roles, developing her interests in healthcare, politics, and disability rights. She joined the Green Party in 2006, since when she has become increasingly involved with local community campaigns and green politics in Leicester. She is Membership Secretary of the Leicester Green Party, and standing for Council in 2015. Diagnosed with MS in 1995, Mags believes passionately that supporting disabled people to live full and independent lives, including the right to work if it suits their circumstances, is of benefit to all members of society.
Housing: Samir Jeraj
Samir Jeraj is a journalist and housing campaigner. He works in race equality, particularly in health services, criminal justice and housing. Samir served as a Green Party councillor in Norwich for four years, where he was Deputy Leader of the Opposition. He lives in Stamford Hill in Hackney.
Animals: Keith Taylor MEP
Keith is fiercely committed to protecting the rights of animals - and to promoting higher standards of animal welfare across the EU.
As Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on animal welfare, Keith has campaigned to ban all fur imports, to end cruel industrialised farming practices, and to stop the use of animals in experiments. He is also a strong advocate of the 'stop the badger cull' movement and is leading a campaign to end EU subsidies for bullfighting.
Keith has worked to ensure the EU upholds its ban on the import of seal products, campaigned against the cruel practice of shark finning, and has put pressure on Japan to end its current whaling practices.
And as a member of the Parliament's Transport and Tourism Committee, Keith has backed new tourism guidelines which aim to improve welfare standards for animals across the world.
Local Government: Tony Dyer
Tony is involved in several grass-roots projects seeking to encourage greater community involvement in local government decision making. He also writes regularly on local government funding and political issues, particularly for the independent online newspaper Bristol24/7.
Tony has, for several years now, worked very closely on policy development within the Bristol Green Party, helping to contribute to their success in growing from just one councillor to the current 11. He meets regularly with the Green group of councillors to help analyse and advise on Green responses and initiative to local government policy announcements and decision making.
Aged 51, and married with one daughter, Tony believes the time is right to initiate a fuller, evidence-based debate about real and sustainable alternatives to how local government is funded and structured.
Agriculture: Oliver Dowding
Oliver is a farmer in south-east Somerset, near Wincanton. He has been farming since 1976 and organically since 1989. In this time he has kept a large herd of dairy cows, their dairy offspring and various beef cattle. He has also grown a wide range of arable crops and for a period grew vegetables on a field scale. Oliver is currently on the Council of the Soil Association, and their Farmer and Grower Board. Previously he has been involved with a number of other organisations, including spells on the council of the NFU, the R&D committee of the Home-Grown Cereals Authority, and as vice-chairman of the board of the Organic Milk Suppliers Co-operative.
Young Greens Co-Chair: Hannah Clare and Sam Murray
Hannah was elected Co Chair of the Young Greens in November 2015, having been previously involved in founding the Young Greens Regional Senate.
From Essex, Hannah was elected to the Young Essex Assembly for 4 consecutive years from 2007-2011, and UK Youth Parliament for 2 years between 2009-2011. Here she gained vast experience in campaigning for youth empowerment, which led her to joining the Green Party while at university.
While at university, Hannah also participated heavily in the University Debating Circuit, which led to her representing the Young Greens in the Youth Leaders Debate during the 2015 general election.
This is the current list of Green Party spokespeople and replaces all others.
To interview our spokespeople please contact the Green Party press office: press@greenparty.org.uk
Phone: 020 3691 9401 (Journalists only)