Why the Green Party needs a leader from "town and country"
Yesterday, Caroline Lucas MP announced she would not be standing again as co-leader of the Green Party: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/30/caroline-lucas-to-step-down-as-green-party-co-leader
The Green Party does need a fresh new face, though, as it needs to prove it is an effective political force for green politics in Britain with a wide variety of leaders. Many possible leaders for the Green Party have been cited, including Lord Mayor of Bristol Cleo Lake and Lord Mayor of Sheffield Magid Magid. However, the majority of them in addition to the other co-leader Jonathan Bartley and deputy leader Amelia Womack, have one factor in common-they are all from big cities, away from areas directly impacted by many environmental issues except for air pollution. The largest Green groups have also in the last 10 years been in metropolitan areas with high levels of private renting and large student populations also featuring known counterculture areas, as Brighton, Bristol, and formerly Norwich and Oxford graphically illustrate.
Rural areas, small towns, and fishing towns in Britain have overall felt the most left behind by the EU, and in the EU membership referendum the majority of rural areas in England, and English-speaking rural areas of Wales, voted for Brexit by a substantial margin, especially in Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The north east of Scotland, whilst voting Remain, had a considerably larger proportion of Leave supporters than most of Scotland, due to the impact its fishing industries have felt as a result of the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy. The Common Fisheries Policy, as Swedish Green Leader Isabella Lovin illustrates, subsidises overfishing (contrary to claims of encouraging sustainability) and encourages waste; it also endangers the livelihoods of so many fishers because it has caused vital fishing rights to be lost. The EU member states of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Luxembourg cannot utilise it anyway as they are landlocked countries. The Common Agricultural Policy, meanwhile, subsidises oversized farms and thus industrial agriculture whilst creating no incentive for small, sustainable and local farms these areas are in need of.
Rural poverty is an issue frequently overlooked by the mainstream media as well, and in many ways it is worse than inner-city poverty. There are many opportunities to escape from inner-city poverty due to the media attention placed on it, nearby jobs, and the transport links that exist, but many villages and towns blighted by rural poverty have no usable public transport and are miles away from significant employers. The infamous Beeching Axe cut so many rural railway lines which have never been replaced, and numerous other railway stations serving market towns like Wisbech (far from either Cambridge or Norwich) have closed for other reasons. Bus routes which have replaced them are infrequent and relatively unreliable, and have borne the brunt of transport cuts councils have made. Investment is sorely lacking in much of the countryside, especially that which lacks notable tourism opportunities. Meanwhile, fracking will cause great harm to the countryside in the same way the badger cull, fox hunting and grouse shooting already do.
In the last 3 years, the Green Party has been able to make considerable gains in villages and towns-in 2015 it was able to win 3 council seats in Mendip, all in the town of Frome where it later won its first two county council seats in Somerset in 2017. The Green Party is the official opposition in Mid Suffolk with 6 councillors, where Stowmarket is the only town with a population greater than 10,000. The county of Suffolk itself has the largest Green group on a county council, with the three Green county councillors representing the town of Beccles, the rural area of Cosford, and villages along the River Gipping. The bohemian West Country district of Stroud has the longest unbroken run of Green Party representation in the UK, as there have been Green councillors there since 1986. Due to the recent defection of Karen McKeown from Labour, the Green Party now have 9 councillors in Stroud, second only to Brighton, Bristol and Solihull. The second best Green result in the 2017 general election, meanwhile, was on the Isle of Wight on the back of Vix Lowthion's excellent efforts.
We should remember that the first true pilot of modern Universal Basic Income, a key policy of modern green economics, was started in Finland by a coalition government led by the Centre Party. Finland's Centre Party is a moderate party primarily defending the interests of rural communities in Finland and which also supports decentralisation, another thing Britain greatly needs in order to get the best potential out of its socio-economic diversity.
For all these reasons, the Green Party now needs a leader from the towns and villages to speak up for those whose voice is needed more than ever as the EU withdrawal date looms closer and closer-the people from town and country will benefit the most from Green politics and will be affected most by Brexit.
The Green Party does need a fresh new face, though, as it needs to prove it is an effective political force for green politics in Britain with a wide variety of leaders. Many possible leaders for the Green Party have been cited, including Lord Mayor of Bristol Cleo Lake and Lord Mayor of Sheffield Magid Magid. However, the majority of them in addition to the other co-leader Jonathan Bartley and deputy leader Amelia Womack, have one factor in common-they are all from big cities, away from areas directly impacted by many environmental issues except for air pollution. The largest Green groups have also in the last 10 years been in metropolitan areas with high levels of private renting and large student populations also featuring known counterculture areas, as Brighton, Bristol, and formerly Norwich and Oxford graphically illustrate.
Rural areas, small towns, and fishing towns in Britain have overall felt the most left behind by the EU, and in the EU membership referendum the majority of rural areas in England, and English-speaking rural areas of Wales, voted for Brexit by a substantial margin, especially in Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The north east of Scotland, whilst voting Remain, had a considerably larger proportion of Leave supporters than most of Scotland, due to the impact its fishing industries have felt as a result of the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy. The Common Fisheries Policy, as Swedish Green Leader Isabella Lovin illustrates, subsidises overfishing (contrary to claims of encouraging sustainability) and encourages waste; it also endangers the livelihoods of so many fishers because it has caused vital fishing rights to be lost. The EU member states of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Luxembourg cannot utilise it anyway as they are landlocked countries. The Common Agricultural Policy, meanwhile, subsidises oversized farms and thus industrial agriculture whilst creating no incentive for small, sustainable and local farms these areas are in need of.
Rural poverty is an issue frequently overlooked by the mainstream media as well, and in many ways it is worse than inner-city poverty. There are many opportunities to escape from inner-city poverty due to the media attention placed on it, nearby jobs, and the transport links that exist, but many villages and towns blighted by rural poverty have no usable public transport and are miles away from significant employers. The infamous Beeching Axe cut so many rural railway lines which have never been replaced, and numerous other railway stations serving market towns like Wisbech (far from either Cambridge or Norwich) have closed for other reasons. Bus routes which have replaced them are infrequent and relatively unreliable, and have borne the brunt of transport cuts councils have made. Investment is sorely lacking in much of the countryside, especially that which lacks notable tourism opportunities. Meanwhile, fracking will cause great harm to the countryside in the same way the badger cull, fox hunting and grouse shooting already do.
In the last 3 years, the Green Party has been able to make considerable gains in villages and towns-in 2015 it was able to win 3 council seats in Mendip, all in the town of Frome where it later won its first two county council seats in Somerset in 2017. The Green Party is the official opposition in Mid Suffolk with 6 councillors, where Stowmarket is the only town with a population greater than 10,000. The county of Suffolk itself has the largest Green group on a county council, with the three Green county councillors representing the town of Beccles, the rural area of Cosford, and villages along the River Gipping. The bohemian West Country district of Stroud has the longest unbroken run of Green Party representation in the UK, as there have been Green councillors there since 1986. Due to the recent defection of Karen McKeown from Labour, the Green Party now have 9 councillors in Stroud, second only to Brighton, Bristol and Solihull. The second best Green result in the 2017 general election, meanwhile, was on the Isle of Wight on the back of Vix Lowthion's excellent efforts.
We should remember that the first true pilot of modern Universal Basic Income, a key policy of modern green economics, was started in Finland by a coalition government led by the Centre Party. Finland's Centre Party is a moderate party primarily defending the interests of rural communities in Finland and which also supports decentralisation, another thing Britain greatly needs in order to get the best potential out of its socio-economic diversity.
For all these reasons, the Green Party now needs a leader from the towns and villages to speak up for those whose voice is needed more than ever as the EU withdrawal date looms closer and closer-the people from town and country will benefit the most from Green politics and will be affected most by Brexit.
Another awesome article. Very detailed and informative. Thanks for sharing!
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