The Green Party Revolution Being Planned In Cheltenham

a picture of an auditorium which has seats facing the stage which is in the center of the room some of the chairs are laid out in a semi circular fashion whilst some of the chairs are facing the stage directly. On the right hand side of the stage there is a wooden lecturn and on the left there is a small wooden table which has a bottle of water and two glasses on. there are three people sat around the table; on the left hand side there is a white man with grey hair who is wearing a pale brown jumper and grey trousers he has his arms crossed and his left leg is crossed over the top of his right leg. next to this man on the right is a white women with short cropped brown hair who is looking to her left and smiling slightly she has a white top on and has a black blazer over the top of her top, she is also wearing black trousers to match her black blazer, on her left is another white man who has short grey hair and is wearing glasses he has a white collared shirt which is underneath a navy blue jumper he has a pair of blue trousers on and is gesticulating with his left hand holding it out as if he is about to shake someones hand.

“If they know what they are voting for, they might start questioning it. And you wonder why we are in such a sh*thole”. That was the verdict of Britain’s only Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, in conversation with veteran environmental campaigner Jonathan Porritt.

a picture of an auditorium which has seats facing the stage which is in the center of the room some of the chairs are laid out in a semi circular fashion whilst some of the chairs are facing the stage directly. On the right hand side of the stage there is a wooden lecturn and on the left there is a small wooden table which has a bottle of water and two glasses on. there are three people sat around the table; on the left hand side there is a white man with grey hair who is wearing a pale brown jumper and grey trousers he has his arms crossed and his left leg is crossed over the top of his right leg. next to this man on the right is a white women with short cropped brown hair who is looking to her left and smiling slightly she has a white top on and has a black blazer over the top of her top, she is also wearing black trousers to match her black blazer, on her left is another white man who has short grey hair and is wearing glasses he has a white collared shirt which is underneath a navy blue jumper he has a pair of blue trousers on and is gesticulating with his left hand holding it out as if he is about to shake someones hand.

The Cheltenham Green Party hosted Ms Lucas at the Parabola Arts Centre, on Thursday, with nearly 200 people in attendance.

Before the event started there was an opportunity to socialise with party members and councillors from across Gloucestershire. With only a few minutes before the event was meant to start the doors to the auditorium opened allowing the excitement and tension to flood through them as the crowd entered and begun to take their seats,

a open room with white walls and a chandelier handing from the celling. the floor is made up of wooden panels and that the far end of the room there is a mini bar. people are milling around in the picture and are all in small groups of 3s 4s and sometimes 5s they all seem happy and are talking to each other.

With the run up to the 2024 local elections events like this are important; especially for local parties which have the opportunity to secure more councillors. There will be elections in Gloucester, Cheltenham and in Stroud.

In Stroud there is an opportunity to become the biggest party with a working majority, in Cheltenham the Greens’ aim is to become the main opposition party which would push the Conservatives down into third, and finally in a Gloucester the hope is to elect the first Green Party councillor.

Gloucestershire is one of the leading counties for Green Party councillors already with 37 district councillors. The Green Party is leading the council coalition in Stroud with 14 councillors, and last year Cheltenham elected its first two Green councillors. It is also the biggest party in the Forest of Dean.

Dale a member of the Green Party spoke about Cheltenham’s history of being traditionally a two-party area between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, which means there “isn’t much of a choice.”

The Green Party has pledged “to stand in Cheltenham at every election. As if we keep stepping aside we will end up as a two-party state forever”.

a white man stood at the wooden lecturn he has grey hair, a white shirt, navy jumper and blue trousers he is holding his glasses in his hands

Ms Lucas then took to the stage with a speech which overall reflected on making connections; whether those connections were with each other or the planet. With a reflection on three main things, firstly the green light the government gave to Rose Bank Oil Field, secondly the King’s Speech and thirdly the Autumn statement.

A white women with short cropped black hair is stood at the wooden lecturn she has a white shirt on underneath a black blazer and is wearing matching black trousers.

Rose Bank is the biggest underdeveloped oil field in the North Sea, and if it goes ahead, it will produce the same amount of emissions on an annual basis as the poorest, 28 countries put together. Ms Lucas said Rose Bank did nothing for “our energy bills, energy prices or energy security”. The government put this policy forward when parliament was on conference break meaning there was no scrutiny of the policy, she argued.

She said the King’s speech was “lacking in vision and narrative”, and she described Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement as ‘a smug and short term statement from a chancellor who it feels like is on a different planet.’

So what would the Green Party put in place if they were in charge?

Firstly they would put in place a clean air human’s right bill affectionately dubbed Ella’s law. Ella was a nine year old from London who was the first person to have air pollution put on their death certificate. This law would enshrine a new human rights to clean air which would be required to be achieved in England after five years. “Thinking about the impact on health service, on young people, on the environment. It’s a win-win from all of those perspectives”.

Secondly a renters reform bill “worthy of the name”; which would ban section 1 evictions which are currently in place under the current renters reform bill. As well as making sure the country builds more affordable homes and rent controls brought in places where rent is spiralling out of control.

Thirdly, it would bring in a fossil fuel phase out bill as the Green Party recognises that people will need time and training to get new jobs whilst still eliminating fossil fuels.

Mr Porritt (author of Seeing Green: The Politics of Ecology Explained) asked her what needs to be done about the difficulty of getting people to support Green Party politics, political discourse, climate change, growth in temperature across the world and her departure from politics at the next election.

The evening then wrapped up and the bar was reopened and ready for more socialising amongst guests and Green Party members.

If you want to get involved with the Cheltenham Green Party you can visit their website here or find them on social media @CheltGreenParty

Published by Amy Woodward

Hello, my name is Amy and I have been registered blind since birth. I am currently a first year journalist student. This blog is going to be documenting my journey from the past%, through the present and into the future.

Leave a Comment