Darlington Council Green Group leader Matthew Snedker has been appointed national Housing and Community spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales. 

Matthew has been pressing the case for more homes that are affordable and sustainable. 

Matthew said: 

“We need more homes for people that are affordable to rent or buy, and cheap to heat in winter and keep cool in ever-warmer summers. 

“We need them built where we have good transport links and community facilities like schools and health centres. 

“Instead, we have a government that wants to give developers a free hand to build for profit and trample over people’s needs for decent homes and green spaces at the same time.  

“The Green Party has long pressed for the right homes, in the right place, at the right price and I’m delighted that as well as making that case here in the North East and will now be supporting our four MPs to make the case nationally. 

“I know from my work as a councillor that people really want to build great communities and our local councils and national government can back them by providing decent homes.” 

Short biography: Matthew Snedker led Darlington Green Party to its success in having 6 councillors now, and he is the council group leader. He has stood three times for the parliamentary seat of Darlington, most recently in 2024. He supports self-organising community groups, such as a Darlo Fit-it (a repair cafe) Darlovelo (Cycling advocacy) and Darlington for Peace (an interfaith peace and unity partnership). A patron of the Passivhaus trust, he advocates for affordable and sustainable public housing with an emphasis on developments with connections to services, education and employment. 

Leicester South Green Party parliamentary candidate Sharmen Rahman has been appointed the national spokesperson for Equalities and Diversity for the Green Party of England and Wales. 

Sharmen said: 

“The Green Party understands that there can be no climate justice without social justice. This Equalities and Diversity spokesperson role is one that makes sure we match our words and deeds. 

“Too many people have been turned off getting involved in politics by the division and hate sown by far-right political parties and a Labour government that has cut support to people with disabilities while echoing the anti-immigration rhetoric of Reform UK and the Tories. 

“I will make sure that people know there is a party that stands for hope and involving everyone in our politics. 

“I will be working with our MPs in Westminster and our leadership team to support them in getting all our communities involved in making the real change we need a reality. 

“We know that there is a better way to do politics – bringing people together by facing down racism, opposing discrimination against disabled people and ensuring our LGBTIQA+ communities are safe, respected, and free to be themselves.” 

Short biography: Sharmen Rahman has represented the Party as a Parliamentary Candidate for Leicester South, where she proved herself to a polished performer on public platforms. As a councillor, policy worker, and caseworker she has been committed to the cause of anti-racism and equalities more broadly. She helped pass the motion to adopt the APPG definition of Islamophobia at Leicester City Council, led a coalition of women in the fightback against the Leicester Riots and sits on her local branch of Stand up to Racism. 

Wirral Green councillor Jo Bird has been appointed the spokesperson on Business and Trade for the Green Party of England and Wales. 

Jo will be pushing for fairer and greener business policies that meet the needs of people and planet for a sustainable future. 

Jo Bird said: 

“The Green Party has shown that there is a different way of doing business that is kind to people and the planet.  

“It includes supporting small and local businesses that serve their local communities and offering consumers the chance to choose quality, ethical products at affordable prices. 

“That’s all made a lot harder when business and trade is largely run by and for big business focussed only on the profit motive. 

“I know from decades working as a co-operative and fairtrade business consultant that there is a hunger amongst entrepreneurs and customers for the real change that will deliver for business, people and planet. 

“Whether its local councils sourcing goods and services from local suppliers, making it easier for farmers to supply schools with fresh, seasonal produce or governments ensuring the highest environmental standards are included in international trade deals, we can make change happen.” 

Short biography: Jo Bird co-led Wirral Green group of 14 councillors and came a strong second in Birkenhead in last year’s general election. Jo is keen to speak for fairer, greener business and trade, having decades of experience as a co-op and fairtrade business consultant and having proposed no-cuts, pro-nature amendments to Wirral Council’s budget. See her video here. 

Responding to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s call for a gambling industry levy to fund tackling child poverty, Green Peer Natalie Bennett said:

“Having been at the heart of the New Labour government, which unleashed the toxic, destructive gambling industry that we have today with the 2005 Gambling Act, it is good to see Gordon Brown now calling for fair taxation of the massive cash cow.

“And excellent that he is calling for that to money to be used to end the two-child benefit cap, a policy deliberately causing child poverty that is astonishingly still in place a year into this Labour government.

“But a tax is only the start. We cannot allow predatory firms to continue to fill our high streets and our computer screens, to barrage us with a flood of advertising, acting as a tax on desperation, doing enormous damage to individuals and communities, particularly the poorest communities.”

Ahead of more planned demonstrations this weekend outside hotels housing asylum seekers, Green Party spokesperson on Policing and Domestic Safety, Amanda Onwuemene, said:

“The unrest we are seeing outside hotels housing asylum seekers and in our communities is unacceptable. The protests are the result of the deliberate spread of myths and lies about asylum seekers and refugees and are being stoked by the far right.

“The Green Party stands in solidarity with all those who are using their right to seek asylum and who must be feeling unsafe and frightened at this time.

“We must remember our basic humanity. Those coming to this country to flee violence include mothers with their children, as well as people of all ages who have endured unimaginable trauma. We have a duty to offer compassion and sanctuary, not fear and intimidation.

“Our political leaders also have a duty to show moral backbone and stand firm against the divisive demands of the far right on migration which will only foster racism and Islamophobia in our communities.”