"If they don't have that voice in parliament, they'll be able to just continue to pretend that these little tweaks that Labour's proposing are actually going to address these big issues of our time."
Although tonight’s general election debate only included the Labour and Tory leaders, ITV hosted an interview with the other party leaders immediately after it. One of those interviewed was Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay.
In his interview with the journalist Anushka Asthana, Ramsay set out his party’s ambition in the general election and political strategy in its aftermath.
He said of the Greens’ ambition in the election: “Our ambition is that we desperately need to push forward on the bold action that’s needed both on addressing the climate and nature crises – the defining issues of our time – and on creating a more equal society.”
Asthana then interjected to ask “where’s your influence in Westminster?”, to which Ramsay replied: “All the polls suggest we’re on track for a Labour government. The question is: Do we want Keir Starmer to have such a big majority that he can continue to make U-turns all the time on climate or on funding for public services?
“If there’s a group of Green MPs in parliament – and we’re standing a record number of candidates in this election going into it in better shape than ever before – we’ve got our top four target seats, if we win those, we’ll be able to push this new government in the right direction.
“If they don’t have that voice in parliament, they’ll be able to just continue to pretend that these little tweaks that Labour’s proposing are actually going to address these big issues of our time. Do you really think that the Labour proposals that we’ve heard tonight are going to enable us to tackle the climate crisis?”
Later in the interview, Ramsay added: “People are desperate for change. They’re desperate for authentic voices in politics. And we’re the only party that’s being honest in this election and saying that if we’re going to fund that transition to a green economy in a fair way, and restoring our NHS, then we are going to ask the very richest in society – the multimillionaires, the billionaires – to pay modestly more in tax to bring about that transition we all need.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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