Next Wednesday (29th) Left Foot Forward will be hosting a 90-minute hustings with the Green Party's mayoral hopefuls
Next Wednesday 29 July at lunchtime Left Foot Forward will be hosting an online hustings with the Green Party’s mayoral candidates.
Caroline Russell, Sian Berry, Benali Hamdache, Rashid Nix, Jonathan Bartley and Tom Chance are all competing to be the Green mayoral candidate in the elections which will take place on 5 May, 2016.
This is your chance to ask them questions about why they should run, and why London should be in Green hands.
Visit this page at 12.00pm next Wednesday for what promises to be an interesting discussion.
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15 Responses to “Online hustings with Green Party mayoral candidates”
Jonathan Bartley
Joe – I want Londoners to be empowered to help
themselves. So I would use the Mayor’s London
Plan to give estates across London such as Cressingham Gardens in Tulse Hill (who
have come up with proposals for a Green refurbishment but which Lambeth council
is ignoring) more power to determine their own futures. I want transport unions and cycling groups to
be represented on the board of Transport for London, and representation for victims
of crime on the board of MOPAC. I would have a weekly press conference for the
mayor, moving around London, to increase accountability and engagement. I would
fight for more devolved powers for the Mayor.
I would introduce a new strategy for older people (there hasn’t been one
since 2006) to address disengagement and isolation.
Jonathan Bartley
Hi Ed – I am a huge fan of coops. There are so many alternative economic models, from mutuals, industrial provident societies and credit unions to small businesses and trading ventures that operate with alternative values that I want to see grown and expanded. Right now there are more members of co-operatives in the UK (which, the Co-op group points out outperformed the British economy by over 21% since the start of the credit crunch) than there are shareholders. For example I want see a London-wide energy co-op based on models like Brixton Solar, where I live in Lambeth. A London-wide renewable energy co-op would allow Londoners to invest in renewable energy installations across the capital. People would invest in local installations on community and public buildings for a guaranteed return protected by a ‘double lock’, of around 4% or 1% above the Bank of England base rate, whichever was higher. There would be economies of scale from the London-wide scheme, which aren’t available to one-off community schemes. Profits would be reinvested in London-wide super-insulation, to cut energy bills. Housing co-ops are another huge area which could help address London’s housing crisis, which could also be based around community land trusts to help keep housing truly affordable. In the workplace I would like to launch a “Mayor’s Good Business Mark” like the Living Wage, which would also encourage co-operative models. There are so many possibilities to explore.
Speranza
Good afternoon,
It seems clear to me that our General Election platform was too convoluted for a party which can only realistically expect a slice of overall coverage. Considering this, will you run on policies which at best confuse, at worst repel, like the Universal Income? In addition, given that the Living Wage Foundation do not support making the Living Wage Statutory, will you run on a policy which would close many small businesses?
I ask as I believe that our policies do not always need to be to the left of our competition. We should be advocating what works.
Thanks
Sian Berry
Hi Joe, I’ve written about this here: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/greens-should-relish-not-fear-chance-take-zac-goldsmith
And for Left Foot Forward here: https://leftfootforward.org/2015/05/why-london-should-look-to-barcelona-and-madrid-for-next-years-elections/
One really important thing about the Greens it’s that we have a different approach to politics that’s more democratic, and more involving for citizens too!
I’m excited about this election because there are a lot of grassroots movements springing up on a whole range of issues across the city and the country, for voting reform, protecting wildlife, saving green energy measures that are being axed, defending human rights and freedom of information, stopping fracking, and many, many very local campaigns defending homes and green spaces and public services, from the (small c) conservative conservation focuses groups to the truly radical.
In my job as a transport campaigner, and as a councillor, I work with a really wide range of people who are wanting to make a difference, and in London I want us to help bring this very diverse movement together by showing them a party that’s participative, listens to them and works with them in a way that’s generous and helpful and open.
The Green Party is the only party capable of taking that approach – we’ve always been part of a movement and it’s a different way of doing politics that our members are already comfortable with and fired up about.
Sian Berry
Hi Maeve – thanks for that question. Incinerators in central London are not at all the best solution to our waste. The Mayor has a leadership role to play in this – Boroughs are responsible for waste but a London-wide strategy that helps them to co-operate and team up to get more things repaired, reduce waste in the first place and support initiatives like anaerobic digestion is really important. Cutting down waste saves boroughs money too as local councils have had some very severe cuts and simply can’t afford to paying be sending things to landfill, or to incinerators for that matter, when the rubbish shouldn’t even have been created in the first place.
Where incinerators are proposed, planning permission is needed for these things, and the Mayor can have a strong influence on that, and not allow new incinerators to be built on the grounds of pollution and traffic impacts, for example.