All North Hertfordshire Parliamentary Candidates for North East Hertfordshire pictured at the count.

Thanks to anybody who voted Green! It has been a pleasure to be your candidate.

Caroline Lucas, new Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, will be a voice for Green voters all over the country as well as her own constituents.
It is the first time that Green has been elected to Parliament anywhere in the world under a First Past the Post system.
This is an absolutely huge achievement, but still only gives us a fraction of the representation we should have.
Other countries in Europe have had Green members of parliament for years.
Anyway Congratulations to Brighton Pavilion and here's to the next Green MP's!

Top ten policies from our costed manifesto

The full version can be read online at www.greenparty.org.uk


1. Stabilising the economy

Regulate the financial sector, permanently tax bankers’ bonuses and introduce the Robin Hood tax on international financial transactions, while reducing corporation tax for small firms.

2. Creating jobs

Create one million jobs in areas such as local manufacturing and food production, public transport, renewable energy, home insulation and repairing and recycling goods.

3. Education

Abolish formalised SATs testing for 11 year olds and reduce the huge paperwork burden on teachers. Protect schools and universities from cuts and privatisation, and abolish university fees.

4. Protecting public services

Protect public services from cuts and privatisation: keep the NHS public, protect Sure Start nurseries, re-open Post Offices, abolish charges for prescriptions and dentistry.

5. Pensions and care for the elderly

Introduce free social care for the elderly as in Scotland and raise the basic state pension to £170 a week.

6. Affordable housing

Take action to ensure that the million empty homes nationwide are brought back into use; introduce free home insulation for all homes within 5 years; and enable local councils to build new council housing again.

7. Transport

Redirect transport funding towards public transport, regulate the buses and renationalise the railways to ensure we have affordable and reliable public transport in the future. Improve cycle routes and pedestrian safety measures.

8. Youth facilities

Double spending on out of school services for young people to give them something to do and somewhere to go and introduce a national youth volunteering programme for the under 18s.

9. Climate change and energy security
The UK should lead the world by example in tackling climate change: energy efficiency measures in buildings, reducing travel miles by providing services like Post Offices locally and localising the economy, investment in renewable energy rather than nuclear power.

10. Democracy and Parliamentary reform

Replace the House of Lords with a fully elected second chamber; decentralise power to local councils and communities; restrict the lobbying power of big business over MPs; prevent MPs from holding directorships and consultancies that stop them being full-time MPs and may result in conflicts of interest.

Vote for Policies, NOT Personalities

The televised debates may well have got people talking more about politics, which can only be a good thing. However, not if people get blinkered by the performance and don't scrutinise the policies.
This very useful independent website lets you compare the policies of 6 parties, without telling you which is which until the end.
It is worth noting how far in the lead the Greens are.
Very interesting and highly recommended before making a decision!

I am looking forward to attending a hustings in Letchworth at St Francis' College in Letchworth. The school is hosting it on Tuesday 27th April and members of the public are very welcome.

Time: 7.30
Address: The Broadway, Letchworth SG6 3PJ
Priority will be given to those aged between 18 and 25 but there will undoubtedly be space for others too.

www.hustingsneh.com - you will find a booking facility there too.

'Question Time' Event in Braughing

On 8th April I attended the Braughing annual parish meeting along with the Conservative, Labour, UKIP and Liberal Democrat candidates.

This was my first hustings and a very interesting experience. There was a good range of questions, including subjects like social care for the elderly, unemployment and devolvement of power to local communities. Many people feel that we need greater change than the three main parties are offering. The Green Party recognises this and this is why we have clear policies on job creation, protection of public services and the NHS and replacing the basic state pension with a Citizen's Pension of £170 a week.

I would like to thank Braughing parish council for inviting us all as events like this are of great value to both candidates and voters.

3 Chancellors Televised Debate

See below a letter to the Guardian from Caroline Lucas, in response to criticism of the 3 chancellors televised debate, an exerpt of which I paste here:

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 March 2010
Simon Jenkins
[….] On Monday evening the parties' three economic spokesmen went head to head and stroked each other to a draw. They nattered away like cleaning ladies over how to clear up after the great bankers' ball. There were smashed derivatives, defaulted swaps and toxic turds strewn everywhere – and who, they said, was going to pick up the £170bn bill?

None of them discussed whether the party should have been allowed in the first place. I suddenly craved some good old Labour blood and guts, an Arthur Scargill, a Tony Benn, a Michael Foot, a Nye Bevan, someone to shout in their faces: "You blew it! When those petrified, knock-kneed smoothies from the City came pleading for help, you caved in and gave them the people's money. You panicked, you bunch of creeps."
[……]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/30/three-chancellors-banks-the-city


Letters editor, The Guardian

Sir,
I sympathise with Simon Jenkins’ desire for what he calls “a real Labour voice to slam this City-fearing trio” (Guardian 31). Of course we’re not going to get a Labour voice saying that – but there is a Green voice already saying it. And while there won’t be a Green government after this election, pollsters YouGov and ICM have nevertheless predicted a Green Party breakthrough. Even one or two Greens elected would provide that voice, right there in the House of Commons. Could this not become a rallying point for serious change?

Of course there’s a long tradition of having the odd back-bencher speaking out against the government’s latest madness (whether it’s Iraq or Royal Mail privatisation or the banking debacle that Mr Jenkins eloquently summarises), until election time when they urge you to vote for that government anyway. Surely the arrival of a new party would go much further to hold the old parties to account. And surely this new party has earned its place at the table.

The Greens have been right about climate change, about rail privatisation, about the deterioration of the NHS under PFI, and about the need for government intervention to create jobs. And the Greens are right about the banking debacle. So there is surely a strong case for a Green vote in this election – to send a powerful message about the direction the next government should take, but also to get the first Greens into the House of Commons, where their voice will be amplified as a rallying cry for real change.
Yours sincerely
Caroline Lucas MEP
Leader, the Green Party

I welcomed this questionnaire on Electoral reform. These changes are long overdue and are needed to combat voter disillusionment - to make their votes actually count.
DEMREF 2010 asks candidates for their views on fixed-term parliaments, free voting, the electoral system, open primaries, voting age, recalling MPs and House of Lords reform.
I urge voters to quiz the other candidates on this crucial subject.

My responses are in italics:
Q. FIXED-TERM PARLIAMENTS. Do you agree with fixed-term parliaments or do you oppose them?
I support fixed-terms

Q. FREE VOTES. Do you think that there should be fewer, more or roughly the same number of free votes (votes not subject to party whip) in Parliament?
I would like considerably more free votes

Q. VOTING SYSTEM. Do you think that the present voting system for Westminster elections should maintained or should the voting system be reformed?
I support reform of the voting system and favour the　Additional member system.

Q. VOTING AGE. Do you think that the voting age should remain at 18 or should it be lowered to 16?
I believe the voting age should be lowered to 16.

Q. RECALLING MPS. Are you open to the idea of having a mechanism whereby constituents can vote on the recall of their MP in instances of "serious wrongdoing" or do you oppose having such a mechanism to recall MPs?
I am open to the idea of having a mechanism to recall MPs.

Q. HOUSE OF LORDS. What is your view on the composition of the House of Lords/second chamber?
I support a fully elected House of Lords/second chamber.

Q. OTHER REFORMS: State funding of political parties and far more powers for local government.

Let's focus on the advantages of action

This cartoon sums up what a lot of people have been saying to me recently. The 'debate' about climate change is irrelevant if we focus on what actions are required to achieve a better quality of life.

A letter to The Royston Crow - Care for the Elderly

How refreshing to hear Matthew Gooding in the last edition (The Crow 25/2/10) talking of inequality in his piece about care for the elderly. When you look at the figures they are shocking. The gulf between the rich and the poor is growing for all ages, and care for the elderly can be profoundly inequitable.
Where are we heading if we allow this to get worse?
The quality of your care should not depend on the depth of your pocket.
The Scots offer free social care to the elderly, so why can’t we, which would create 120,000 jobs.

The saying goes that a society should be judged on its care of the elderly - not on its devotion to wealthy bankers!

Rosemary Bland
Green Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North East Hertfordshire

I gladly signed the Equality Pledge and challenge other candidates to do the same.


"Because more equal societies work better for everyone.
Compelling new evidence presented by The Equality Trust shows that more equal societies - those with a narrower gap between rich and poor - are more cohesive, healthier, suffer fewer social problems and are more environmentally sustainable.

In view of these findings I am committed to making the UK a more equal society as the most effective means of building a better society. I will therefore actively support the case for policies designed to narrow the gap between rich and poor; and engage with the debate on which measures should be implemented to achieve that aim."

www.equalitytrust.org.uk:

Caroline Lucas speaks at Green Party Spring Conference

A rousing speech today from the leader of the Green Party at our Spring conference in North Finchley, as reported by the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8524066.stm.

Letter in the Comet - Community Participation

SIR – perhaps North Herts District Council would spend less on consultants if it spent more time properly engaging with those it is there to represent – the community. On a number of key issues the real experts on an area are the people living there. Local government needs to be brought closer to residents, with a much increased level of participation in the decisions that affect people’s daily lives. Proportional representation, well-planned consultations that aren't just box-ticking exercises and a more pro-active approach to community engagement would all go a long way to achieving enhanced democracy for our area.
Rosemary Bland
Prospective Green Parliamentary Candidate for North East Hertfordshire