9 October 2017

Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, will say his party will be the most influential in 21st century politics as he addresses members at autumn conference.

Bartley will point to how Greens have set the agenda on issues from a Living Wage to refugees and climate change.

Bartley is expected to say:

“Where we lead, others follow. Our London Assembly members forced a Living Wage. Our MEPs stood up for refugees when others stood back. And in Parliament, we have consistently kept climate change on the agenda.

“And you know what. I believe we will be the most influential party in twenty first century politics.”

After the financial crash seven years ago Greens stood against the establishment consensus that austerity was necessary. In his speech Bartley will say anti-austerity is now mainstream.

He will also set out a vision for a new economy, with an ambitious plan to tackle air pollution, and calling out the damage a hard Brexit will inflict on Britain.

Bartley is expected to say:

“We warned that the system was unsustainable. And then there was the financial crisis. In 2010 we were told by the Tories, by Labour, by the Lib Dems – that austerity was the only answer. We said no. And we kept saying no. We joined UK uncut on the streets. We marched to Downing Street. We bravely dared to be different. And seven years later the agenda has changed.

“We have changed the minds of other parties on fracking and we are changing the debate about a universal basic income. Other parties might flirt with changing the economy. Or the welfare system.  But we are the only Party that is honest about how much things need to change.

“We are the only party who will collectively design a future where we can all thrive – and have a larger life.”

Notes:

1. Green Party Autumn Conference runs from Saturday 7 October to Tuesday 10 October, 2017 at the Harrogate International Centre, Entrance 3, King’s Rd, Harrogate HG1 5LA.

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7 October 2017

This weekend Greens will gather for the party’s autumn conference [1] to ask big questions about the issues facing Britain and the world.

At the conference, which runs from Saturday 7 to Tuesday 10 October, members will explore how climate action can be at the heart of all policy, how Greens can fight the worst effects of Brexit, and how the party can pioneer a new vision for the economy.

Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, said:

“At Autumn Conference this year Greens will say the things others won’t. So when we have a failing economy with stagnating wages and people working all hours to make ends meet, we’ll say it’s not enough to tinker with things. When there is an establishment consensus on leaving the single market, we’ll say that’s incompatible with ending austerity. We’re at a turning point – and we need to be asking big questions about our future.”

Caroline Lucas, Green Party co-leader, said:

“Only the Green Party recognises the scale of the challenge we face and the need for bold and fundamental reform so we can build a better future for all. We get to the heart of the issues – and ask who our economy is meant to serve. We stand up to the Government’s callous policies towards migrants and refugees. And we are unafraid to politicise climate breakdown and set out the urgent policies we need to address it. We will always speak truth to power.”

Notes:

1. Green Party Autumn Conference runs from Saturday 7 October to Tuesday 10 October, 2017 at the Harrogate International Centre, Entrance 3, King’s Rd, Harrogate HG1 5LA.

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6 October 2017

Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, has welcomed the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

Lucas said: “This shouldn’t come as a surprise. ICAN’s work on the international treaty to ban nuclear weapons is groundbreaking, and needed now more than ever.

“The fact that Britain has been actively boycotting this process is scandalous. Ministers should be hanging their heads in shame for working against this Nobel Prize winning movement. 

“The majority of the world’s nations are behind this ban. Britain must now join them.”

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6 October 2017

Keith Taylor MEP, the Green Party’s Animals Spokesperson, has given a cautious welcome to the announcement that the UK government is considering restricting the ivory trade.

Mr. Taylor was one of the driving forces behind the European Parliament’s resolution, passed in March, calling for an EU-wide ban on the ivory and rhinoceros horn trade. 

The senior Green politician was also one of the most vocal critics of the Conservative Party’s decision to drop a commitment to an ivory ban from its June manifesto.

The UK is currently the world’s leading exporter of ivory carvings and ‘antiques’. The former Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, previously promised a limited ban on the sales of ivory produced after 1947 but a neither follow-up consultation or policy ever materialised.

The proposals announced by the Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, include a ban on the sale of ivory produced before 1947 but still include a series of exemptions. 

Responding to the announcement, Keith Taylor MEP, a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee and Vice President of the Animal Welfare Intergroup, said:

“Any moves to restrict the squalid ivory trade should be welcomed; that Britain is the world’s largest exporter is a stain on our national conscience. The trade in so-called legal ivory is stimulating the demand for the product and fuelling the mindless and brutal killing of elephants and rhinos across Africa.”

“Animal welfare advocates aren’t holding our breath though; we’ve been here before with the Tories. It was only last year that Gove’s predecessor announced, more limited, restrictions on the ivory trade that failed to materialise – and it has long been an unfulfilled Conservative Party manifesto promise. It has appeared in most Tory manifestos apart from the last – from which it was quietly dropped after lobbying from the antiques trade.”

“This latest announcement thankfully goes further than the previous plan – which never materialised – by promising to ban the trade in pre-1947 ivory. However, the proposals still include a number of loopholes and exemptions that will, undoubtedly, be exploited.”

“Should Gove’s plans actually make it to the consultation stage this time around, and I hope they do, Greens will be fighting for a complete and comprehensive ban. The brutal and needless slaughter of upwards of 35,000 elephants and 1,000 rhinos every year must be stopped.”

Britain is set to host a major conference on the illegal wildlife trade in 2018. 

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3 October 2017

The UKs Green MEPs have responded to today’s overwhelming vote in favour of a resolution on Brexit in the European Parliament [1]. Of 678 MEPs present, 82% voted for the resolution, with only 14% voting against and 4% abstaining. A number of amendments tabled by UKIP were all rejected.

Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London, said:

“This level of unity in the European Parliament both between political groups and also with the other EU institutions is unprecedented. MEPs have sent a clear message that in all the three key areas of citizens’ rights, a financial settlement and the question of the Irish border there has been insufficient progress for talks to move on to the next phase.”

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East, said:

“The European Union is a family founded on the principle of peace and solidarity and in that vein, we’ve seen the European Parliament come together today to show unshakeable unity on Brexit – yet again.

“MEPs are in wide agreement about the Tory government’s lack of progress in the Brexit negotiations. The split cabinet might have just about agreed to kick the Brexit can down the road, with a two-year transition, but there’s still no coherent plan and the ‘cake and eat it’ approach is very much in evidence – they’re in la-la land while the EU27 are in the real world.”

Speaking in a debate ahead of today’s vote [2], Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West, said:

“Theresa May said that the United Kingdom has never felt totally at home in the European Union. Personally, I have never felt less at home in the UK since the vote to leave the EU.

“Such a sentiment is echoed by many people: by the majority of young people who still consider themselves European; by people living in our diverse and multicultural cities; and, of course, by those European citizens who have chosen, for reasons of love, work or study, to make the UK their home.

“If Brexit is a divorce then we are the children of the divorce and the process is a painful and troubling one.”

Ends

Notes

[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brexit-negotiations-talks-latest-sufficient-progress-not-made-european-parliament-eu-leaders-theresa-a7980351.html

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5tlZlvQ4s0

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