Following on from our look at prospective candidates for the first Green MP in last issue, Green World travelled to Brighton to speak to Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas about her Brighton Pavilion constituency.
Giving Norwich a run for its money in the ‘greenest city’ stakes, Brighton is a vibrant, self-confident and progressive city. Greens boast 12 councillors across the City, almost a quarter of all the seats. With no one party in control of the council, it has given the Green Party an unprecedented influence across all areas of local decision-making. In the recent Regency ward by-election, the party held onto the seat in the face of fierce campaigning by the other parties, and saw the vote share increase to 41%, beating the Tories’ 22% and Labour’s 20.9%.
There are some serious challenges there: house prices are driven up by people on London salaries commuting to the capital from Brighton, making a lack of affordable housing a major concern. Local employment, by contrast, often in the services sector, tends not to be well paid. It’s an incredibly diverse and tolerant place too, with one of the largest Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) communities in the country.
Caroline Lucas has been active in the Green Party for over twenty years. She was a Councillor in Oxford, and has been a Green MEP for nearly nine years. She spoke to Green World about her decision to stand as an MP, how that will benefit her constituency, and what it will mean for the party nationally.
How did you first become involved with the Green
Party?
I joined the party in 1986, having just read Seeing Green, by Jonathon Porritt. It was a real life-changing experience! Here, for the first time, I found an analysis which not only addressed some of the key issues I was concerned about - nuclear weapons, feminism, animal rights - but which also made explicit the inter-connections between them, and demonstrated that the best way to address them was through an integrated, coherent political response, tackling the causes of social, economic and environmental exploitation, not just the symptoms. I was living in London at the time and as soon as I finished the book, I got the tube to Clapham, found party office, went in, joined up, and asked how I could help.
When did you first become a councillor and what were the key points in that campaign?
I first became a councillor back in 1993, becoming the first Green councillor in Oxfordshire, as well as the first elected Green County Councillor in the country. I represented the inner city division of Oxford East, which proved our relevance to inner city urban areas and gave us the opportunity to highlight our policies on social justice, poverty eradication, urban regeneration and local business.
Tell me a little about the Brighton Pavilion constituency
Brighton Pavilion is an incredibly exciting constituency to be contesting. It’s the party’s best hope at the next General Election: Keith Taylor won an amazing 22% of the vote at the last General Election, we won around 27% of the vote there in the European Elections, and at the local elections last May, we won 30% of the vote, ahead of all the other parties. At the next election, the sitting Labour MP is standing down, giving us a very serious chance of winning our first Westminster seat.
Tell me how the Green Party has developed in Brighton since Green councillors were first elected?
Pete West’s election to the new Brighton and Hove Unitary Council in 1996 became a catalyst for change within the local party: it triggered something of a ‘coming of age’. It reconstituted itself, developing an Executive (to get things done!) and a new structure of ‘general meetings’ to give members a chance to influence the Council’s agenda and ‘do’ some real politics. This has been hugely successful, giving members direct democratic access in a way that other parties wouldn’t dare allow - and this model has been adopted by other successful local Green Parties across the country.
And how has Brighton benefited from Green involvement?
Since that first council success in Brighton the party has grown at every election as residents see the benefits of electing Greens, both directly - in terms of community engagement on everything from planning and licensing to transport, housing, education and social care - and indirectly, in influencing the agendas of the other parties. Perhaps the biggest single benefit Greens have delivered is leading a cross-party campaign for all voters in the city to have a referendum on the future shape of their council: most wanted to retain the current committee system, contrary to the Government’s proposals for the city to have a US-style directly-elected mayor. This was exactly the sort of campaign the Greens have become known for locally - retaining democratic input and asking, rather than telling, local people how they wish services to be delivered.
Are there any particular partnerships with groups or communities in Brighton that have strengthened the party and its involvement in the area?
The party has strong links with a wide range of communities and groups in Brighton - for example, our councillors have always been very active with local residents groups - but perhaps the one we’re best known for is our links with the LGBT community, not least because our policies have always been ahead of the other parties, and because we have the credibility of delivering on them too.
How has your experience in Europe affected your constituency activities?
Having been the MEP for South East England for the past 8 years, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Brighton very well. It has always been a central focus of my European work, and is now even more so. I think it’s enormously helpful that - of all the candidates standing in Brighton Pavilion at the next election I’m the only one with experience of being elected to public office. It also enables me to get more local media coverage.
When did you decide you wanted to stand as an MP?
I’d been thinking for some time that, while it is an enormous privilege to be a Member of the European Parliament, and it’s a job that I love, it isn’t getting the party the extra recognition that we might have hoped for. Our national political life and national media are so focused on Westminster that, until we have representation there, we simply aren’t going to have the kind of influence over political debate and decision-making that the party deserves. When a number of local Brighton members invited me to put myself forward for selection, I felt very honoured to do so.
I joined the party in 1986, having just read Seeing Green, by Jonathon Porritt. It was a real life-changing experience! Here, for the first time, I found an analysis which not only addressed some of the key issues I was concerned about - nuclear weapons, feminism, animal rights - but which also made explicit the inter-connections between them, and demonstrated that the best way to address them was through an integrated, coherent political response, tackling the causes of social, economic and environmental exploitation, not just the symptoms. I was living in London at the time and as soon as I finished the book, I got the tube to Clapham, found party office, went in, joined up, and asked how I could help.
When did you first become a councillor and what were the key points in that campaign?
I first became a councillor back in 1993, becoming the first Green councillor in Oxfordshire, as well as the first elected Green County Councillor in the country. I represented the inner city division of Oxford East, which proved our relevance to inner city urban areas and gave us the opportunity to highlight our policies on social justice, poverty eradication, urban regeneration and local business.
Tell me a little about the Brighton Pavilion constituency
Brighton Pavilion is an incredibly exciting constituency to be contesting. It’s the party’s best hope at the next General Election: Keith Taylor won an amazing 22% of the vote at the last General Election, we won around 27% of the vote there in the European Elections, and at the local elections last May, we won 30% of the vote, ahead of all the other parties. At the next election, the sitting Labour MP is standing down, giving us a very serious chance of winning our first Westminster seat.
Tell me how the Green Party has developed in Brighton since Green councillors were first elected?
Pete West’s election to the new Brighton and Hove Unitary Council in 1996 became a catalyst for change within the local party: it triggered something of a ‘coming of age’. It reconstituted itself, developing an Executive (to get things done!) and a new structure of ‘general meetings’ to give members a chance to influence the Council’s agenda and ‘do’ some real politics. This has been hugely successful, giving members direct democratic access in a way that other parties wouldn’t dare allow - and this model has been adopted by other successful local Green Parties across the country.
And how has Brighton benefited from Green involvement?
Since that first council success in Brighton the party has grown at every election as residents see the benefits of electing Greens, both directly - in terms of community engagement on everything from planning and licensing to transport, housing, education and social care - and indirectly, in influencing the agendas of the other parties. Perhaps the biggest single benefit Greens have delivered is leading a cross-party campaign for all voters in the city to have a referendum on the future shape of their council: most wanted to retain the current committee system, contrary to the Government’s proposals for the city to have a US-style directly-elected mayor. This was exactly the sort of campaign the Greens have become known for locally - retaining democratic input and asking, rather than telling, local people how they wish services to be delivered.
Are there any particular partnerships with groups or communities in Brighton that have strengthened the party and its involvement in the area?
The party has strong links with a wide range of communities and groups in Brighton - for example, our councillors have always been very active with local residents groups - but perhaps the one we’re best known for is our links with the LGBT community, not least because our policies have always been ahead of the other parties, and because we have the credibility of delivering on them too.
How has your experience in Europe affected your constituency activities?
Having been the MEP for South East England for the past 8 years, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Brighton very well. It has always been a central focus of my European work, and is now even more so. I think it’s enormously helpful that - of all the candidates standing in Brighton Pavilion at the next election I’m the only one with experience of being elected to public office. It also enables me to get more local media coverage.
When did you decide you wanted to stand as an MP?
I’d been thinking for some time that, while it is an enormous privilege to be a Member of the European Parliament, and it’s a job that I love, it isn’t getting the party the extra recognition that we might have hoped for. Our national political life and national media are so focused on Westminster that, until we have representation there, we simply aren’t going to have the kind of influence over political debate and decision-making that the party deserves. When a number of local Brighton members invited me to put myself forward for selection, I felt very honoured to do so.
What do you think you could achieve as a Green MP? What
would you be setting out to do?
First and foremost, of course, I’m setting out to be a great constituency MP, representing the views and aspirations of the people of Brighton Pavilion. Voters have become used to the fact that Green councillors are principally answerable to them rather than other vested interests or pressure groups, and I’d take the same approach to the job of MP.
But the election of Britain’s first Green MP would also send shock waves through the entire political system. And once we have one MP elected, we’ll have broken through the credibility barrier, and can expect numbers to grow rapidly in successive elections. My priorities would include working to scrap Trident, to ensure good public services, and to achieve real action on climate change. Although one single MP can rarely change majorities on individual votes, what they can do is to say the unsayable in the corridors of power, challenge the power of vested interests, and act as something of an investigative voice at Westminster, an effective conduit between local communities and the parliamentarians supposedly serving them.
How is your campaign developing now?
We’re developing a real momentum behind the campaign. It’s been recently reinforced by having to fight a local by-election in the constituency, where - despite extremely aggressive campaigns by the other parties - our candidate Jason Kitcat not only won, but we also increased our vote share to an amazing 41%. We’re also increasing our visibility in the northern wards of the constituency, where we’ve been less active in the past, and reaching out to a broader range of constituents. But to maintain that momentum, we need your help...
How are you persuading the electors of Brighton to vote for you?
By building on the excellent reputation of Green local councillors, which demonstrates that voting Green delivers real, tangible, improvements in people’s quality of life. We’ve shown that Greens engage with the local community far more seriously than the other parties, and genuinely listen to people’s concerns. We’re also appealing to Brighton’s sense of itself as a city which is a bit different, a “step ahead” in terms of radical Green thinking - electing the country’s first Green MP would be a very tangible demonstration of that.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the Green Party at the present time?
One of the biggest challenges is simply to get our voice heard more loudly and more often in national political debate. It is enormously frustrating that, even though the party has long-standing, innovative approaches to many of the key challenges we face, we are seldom given the opportunity of communicating, let alone implementing, them. On the environment and climate change, for example, we’ve been asking the right questions for over 20 years longer than any of the other parties, so we’re more likely to have the right answers. And on social justice issues, our thinking on basic income and land value tax, to name just two, is far in advance of the other parties.
And what do you think has been its biggest success?
I think the party’s biggest success has been in making the environment into a political issue, ensuring that every political party now has to have some kind of policy response. One of our challenges now is to demonstrate that environmental justice and social justice are inseparable, and to develop a higher profile for some of our radical social and economic policies too.
What is your personal highlight from your time in the Green Party?
That would have to be my election as one of the party’s first two MEPs in 1999. It’s a night I’ll never forget! I’m very proud of the campaign the SE Greens ran, and I’d like to pay particular tribute to the utterly invaluable - and very much missed - input from Mike Woodin. He master-minded much of that campaign and was, and remains, a constant inspiration.
And, finally, what are your hopes for the future?
My hope is that the party takes its rightful place at the heart of British politics, with strong representation at Westminster and Brussels, as well as at local and regional level. I hope that we successfully decentralise more of British politics, that we enthuse and enable more people to get involved in politics, that we make political life something to be proud of again and - crucially - that we remain true to our founding principles, offering real hope to the British people.
First and foremost, of course, I’m setting out to be a great constituency MP, representing the views and aspirations of the people of Brighton Pavilion. Voters have become used to the fact that Green councillors are principally answerable to them rather than other vested interests or pressure groups, and I’d take the same approach to the job of MP.
But the election of Britain’s first Green MP would also send shock waves through the entire political system. And once we have one MP elected, we’ll have broken through the credibility barrier, and can expect numbers to grow rapidly in successive elections. My priorities would include working to scrap Trident, to ensure good public services, and to achieve real action on climate change. Although one single MP can rarely change majorities on individual votes, what they can do is to say the unsayable in the corridors of power, challenge the power of vested interests, and act as something of an investigative voice at Westminster, an effective conduit between local communities and the parliamentarians supposedly serving them.
How is your campaign developing now?
We’re developing a real momentum behind the campaign. It’s been recently reinforced by having to fight a local by-election in the constituency, where - despite extremely aggressive campaigns by the other parties - our candidate Jason Kitcat not only won, but we also increased our vote share to an amazing 41%. We’re also increasing our visibility in the northern wards of the constituency, where we’ve been less active in the past, and reaching out to a broader range of constituents. But to maintain that momentum, we need your help...
How are you persuading the electors of Brighton to vote for you?
By building on the excellent reputation of Green local councillors, which demonstrates that voting Green delivers real, tangible, improvements in people’s quality of life. We’ve shown that Greens engage with the local community far more seriously than the other parties, and genuinely listen to people’s concerns. We’re also appealing to Brighton’s sense of itself as a city which is a bit different, a “step ahead” in terms of radical Green thinking - electing the country’s first Green MP would be a very tangible demonstration of that.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the Green Party at the present time?
One of the biggest challenges is simply to get our voice heard more loudly and more often in national political debate. It is enormously frustrating that, even though the party has long-standing, innovative approaches to many of the key challenges we face, we are seldom given the opportunity of communicating, let alone implementing, them. On the environment and climate change, for example, we’ve been asking the right questions for over 20 years longer than any of the other parties, so we’re more likely to have the right answers. And on social justice issues, our thinking on basic income and land value tax, to name just two, is far in advance of the other parties.
And what do you think has been its biggest success?
I think the party’s biggest success has been in making the environment into a political issue, ensuring that every political party now has to have some kind of policy response. One of our challenges now is to demonstrate that environmental justice and social justice are inseparable, and to develop a higher profile for some of our radical social and economic policies too.
What is your personal highlight from your time in the Green Party?
That would have to be my election as one of the party’s first two MEPs in 1999. It’s a night I’ll never forget! I’m very proud of the campaign the SE Greens ran, and I’d like to pay particular tribute to the utterly invaluable - and very much missed - input from Mike Woodin. He master-minded much of that campaign and was, and remains, a constant inspiration.
And, finally, what are your hopes for the future?
My hope is that the party takes its rightful place at the heart of British politics, with strong representation at Westminster and Brussels, as well as at local and regional level. I hope that we successfully decentralise more of British politics, that we enthuse and enable more people to get involved in politics, that we make political life something to be proud of again and - crucially - that we remain true to our founding principles, offering real hope to the British people.
To be successful, we need your help:
• delivering leaflets and newsletters
• door to door canvassing
• volunteering in our campaign shop which will be open 7 days a week during actual campaign period
• telephone canvassing from the comfort of your own home
• help on polling day.
Comfortable accommodation and a warm welcome guaranteed! If you can help, contact Brighton Pavilion constituency organiser Amy Kennedy: pavilion@brightonandhovegreenparty.org.uk
or telephone 01273 782235
