21 May 2014
As the polls open, the North West Green Party's European election candidate, Peter Cranie, has urged Labour voters in the region to use the European elections to 'lean on Labour'.
Peter Cranie said: "Today's elections come just a year before the General Election. I'm urging Labour voters in the North West to use this opportunity at the ballot box to vote Green and lean on Labour to adopt stronger policies on key issues such as tax, austerity, the NHS, fracking, Trident, HS2 and nuclear power."
He continued: "What is lacking from Labour is a bold alternative vision for Britain. The Green Party’s policies are the most popular in blind policy tests – opposing fracking, bringing the railways back into the public sector, scrapping HS2. These are all policies that are proposed by the Greens and supported by a large number of Labour voters and activists."
He continued: "The European Elections are the best opportunity for grassroots Labour people to lean on their national party for more ambitious policy going into the next General Election."
Progressive taxation:
People in the UK now pay a lower overall share of taxation than we did during the time of Margaret Thatcher’s government. The working and middle classes in Britain are paying for the catastrophic effects of the banking crisis. Greens support a progressive tax system and an end to tax avoidance.
Scrapping Trident and HS2:
Government spending is under pressure like never before, yet Labour has matched the commitments of the coalition to renew Trident and go ahead with the HS2 project. Costs will be somewhere in the region of £150 to £200 billion. That is money which Greens believe would be better invested in adult care services, better local and regional transport, and education.
Fracking and coal gasification:
Labour’s position is identical to that of the coalition - it supports fracking. The Greens have proposed large scale investment in energy efficiency technology, an alternative that will create far more skilled jobs within communities. A strong Green vote will focus Ed Miliband’s attention on this issue.
Public services in public hands:
Child protection services are now being touted by the coalition as the next target for privatisation. It follows on from previous privatisation and marketisation in the health service, when what people actually want is a properly funded NHS fully in the public sector. Many local trusts in the NHS are now struggling financially due to escalating PFI payments. The Greens propose returning healthcare, rail and other essential services to the public sector.
Combating austerity:
We’ve seen the impact first hand of the austerity cuts of this coalition. Labour and the Greens are united in saying this policy is wrong, but we differ on how to tackle it. Currently, the Labour leadership has said it will stick to coalition spending plans in the first year of any new Labour government. For many Labour voters, this has been a pledge too far.
We need to tackle austerity and we must do so with a credible alternative that talks about progressive taxation, scraps some of the unaffordable big projects and puts money back into people’s pockets.
How your European election vote matters:
Under the proportional voting system used for the European Elections the Greens will need 8% to 10% to gain a seat in the North West.
In 2009 just 5,000 extra votes for the Greens would have kept the BNP out of the European Parliament and led to 3 left of centre MEPs representing the region, instead of just 2. To have achieved the same aim, Labour would have needed an extra 60,000 votes.
The best way to increase centre left representation at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, Tories or UKIP is to vote Green.
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