Alan's Green Thoughts

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now known that Patrick Mercer, who was Conservative MP for Newark, Nottinghamshire from 2001 to 2014, has just resigned after learning that he would face being suspended from the House of Commons for six months over a 'cash for questions' scandal involving a fake Fijian lobbying company. Although the date of this parliamentary by-election has not been announced yet, it is already known that Robert Jenrick will fight this (currently) safe Conservative seat for the Conservatives and that Nigel Farage will not stand on UKIP's behalf. Even though it has been a while since the Green Party stood in Newark, here are five good reasons why we should stand: 1. To give credibility to the fact that we are a serious and real alternative nationally to the four mainstream, neoliberal parties of Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, and UKIP. 2. To show people that there are no 'no-go areas' for green politics in the UK. 3. To help promote the

Ladies and gentlemen, if you live close to London, or in Greater London itself, there is a demonstration on May Day, internationally recognised as a day of solidarity for workers and ordinary people like you and I, in Clerkenwell Green, London, which will eventually reach Trafalgar Square. In light of what has been going on these past four years, and the fact that the European elections of 2014 could be make or break for many ordinary people in Britain for a variety of reasons, I ask you,please, that if you can, come down to Clerkenwell Green, London, on 1 May starting at 11 am. With too much media attention focused on clashes between the Liberal Democrats and UKIP-both of whom are just different strands of the same neoliberal, un-green establishment- people across Britain need to make their voice heard and help rally support for the Green alternative in Britain, especially given that European election polls for the London area worryingly predict that Jean Lambert MEP, a very compass

Often in the UK, the North-South divide is spoken of, where the South is more prosperous and more conservative than the North. But I have also noticed in Britain, and also several European nations (and the European Union itself), a different kind of divide- an West-East divide. This West-East divide, in political terms, can be plainly seen in Britain, if recent election results are anything to go by: In the 2013 local elections, UKIP gained 147 councillors, but more than 100 of these were elected in councils in eastern parts of Britain- North East England, Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands, East Anglia, and the South East. They gained comparatively fewer councillors in the South West, West Midlands, and North West. As for the Green Party, they gained 5 councillors but lost 6 in eastern parts of Britain; conversely in western parts, they gained 7 councillors in western parts of Britain and lost only 1. Also, in the 2010 general election, people were more inclined tactica

Yesterday, the BBC reported that UKIP and An Independence From Europe have been having an argument with the Electoral Commission; UKIP claims that An Independence From Europe's use of the description 'UK Independence Now' on ballot papers could confuse potential UKIP voters and therefore should be disallowed by regional returning officers. They may have a point about that, it must be said. The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 and the Political Parties and Referendums Act 2000 are both designed to prohibit the use of descriptions on ballot papers that could potentially confuse voters intending to vote for more significant parties; also, a candidate cannot change their name by deed poll for the purpose of confusing voters (several attempts at this were disallowed by returning officers, and rightly so). Incidentally,this act required registration of political parties such that candidates could no longer use just any description on the ballot paper (some were used j

Ladies and Gentlemen, In case you have not already looked at any statements of persons nominated files released by regional returning officers today, here is the list of opponents we face in each region (asterisks mean either an Independent candidate or a party with only one candidate in this region): East Midlands opponents (list leaders): An Independence From Europe (Chris Pain) British National Party (Catherine Duffy) Conservative Party (Emma McClarkin) English Democrats (Kevin Sills) Harmony Party (Steve Ward) * Labour Party (Glenis Willmott) Liberal Democrats (Bill Newton Dunn) United Kingdom Independence Party (Roger Helmer) East of England opponents (list leaders):   An Independence from Europe (Paul Witte n) British National Party (Richard Perry) Christian People's Alliance (Carl Clark) Conservative Party (Vicky Ford ) English Democrats (Robin Tillbrook) Labour Party (Richard Howitt) Liberal Democrats (Andrew Duff) No2EU (Brian Denny) United Kingdom