House of Lords

Green Left's questions to candidates - Answers below

1. A Campaigning Party vs Elections?

Within a flawed electoral system, are we focusing on winning elections, one by one seat, above being a Campaigning Party within the mass movement needed to fight capitalism and transform society before the climate change emergency becomes irreversible? Are we paying lip service to the warning from the brave climate change activists especially the youth who recognise time is running out?

2. An accountable Party?

How can the Green Party be an effective campaigning political party, with transparent internal democracy and accountability, supporting local party campaigns with devolved resources? Do we need delegate conferences to ensure policy is properly discussed at local level before conference decides?

3. A party that understands working-class communities?

Many people (with some progress) still see the green movement and subsequently the GPEW as being well meaning but not relevant to the everyday struggles of working people and working-class communities. How can we challenge that idea?

4. Austerity and reversing public service cuts

After over 10 years of cruel Tory austerity which has trashed public services for millions, we must restore those essential services which we all rely on. Not only the NHS and social care but all the local government services like environmental health, trading standards, pollution control, libraries, public toilets, parks etc and the Green Party has not focused on this sufficiently for several years. Do you agree?

5. The Movement for Green Jobs and a Green Socialist future

What do you know of the Trade Union backed Campaign Against Climate Change, Lucas Plan, The Million Green Jobs campaign and the Greener Jobs Alliance of trade unions? How would you work with these campaigns and ensure all parts of the party are engaging with these groups? Do understand and support what Just Transition means?

6. Are you an eco-socialist?

What does eco-socialism mean to you? What links do you see between climate change and the need for social, economic and democratic change?

7. Support native and oppressed peoples

Greens need to expand our world solidarity by working to liberate millions of indigenous peoples in the Americas, Asia: Kurdistan, Middle East, Tibet, and many parts of Africa etc. Internationalism is still too weak in Green culture. How would you improve this in the GPEW?

8.Minority rights

Do you oppose the colonialist oppression of minorities such as Kashmiris, the Uighurs and Tibetans in China, and support the Palestinian-led global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)? Palestine solidarity groups world-wide have opposed the so-called 'IHRA definition of antisemitism' as an attack on Palestinian rights. Do you support or oppose this definition?

9. Making campaigning for PR a Green Party priority

It’s clear the electoral system is holding back Green Party advance at local and parliamentary elections. How can we campaign to convince members of the Labour Party, Trade Unions and Labour MPs to support this left democratic change to bring elections in line with other parts of the UK? Do you see this as a major priority for the Green Party in the next period?

10. Oppose Nuclear Power

Green Left is supporting a motion to the forthcoming GPEW Conference that calls on the Green Party to demand the government abandons the Hinkley Point nuclear project and plans for the follow-up Sizewell C nuclear project, including the regulated asset-based model and any further development of the hazardous and expensive nuclear power programme. The Green Party should also calls for all existing nuclear power plants to be shut down. No power sourced from nuclear should be imported - only renewable. Will you support this motion?

Molly Scott Cato

1. A Campaigning Party vs Elections?

I have long argued that capitalism is not sustainable, as in my 2004 book Market, Schmarket. I believe in representative democracy rather than revolutionary change, enhanced with participatory elements and using the power of mass mobilisation, so I think winning elections and gaining more MPs is vital. I’ve been involved in campaigning and non-violent direction action all my political life, including speaking at the launch of the Extinction Rebellion in Parliament Square October 2018. One of my reasons for standing in these elections is to find imaginative ways to channel the recent upsurge of political energy into real change. I believe that the present government has many elements of a fascist regime and is dangerous to our democracy as well as in policy terms. I argued for a Popular Front to resist this in 2019 and would do the same again.

2. An accountable Party?

I haven’t made up my mind about the proposals for changing conference yet. I agree about the need for more local party discussions but am reluctant to keep ordinary members out of conference. I’m concerned about the way online systems make it harder for people to know who is really exercising power. Our party has always had a dual strategy of elections + campaigns and I believe that we need a greater focus on campaigns both to bring change directly and to give people a reason to vote Green.

3. A party that understands working-class communities?

While we can share statistics about Green members and voters having well-below-average incomes, we know that many of us do not have the lived experience of some of our most oppressed communities. I think most of us already use positive discrimination to encourage those who have been deprived of access and opportunities to find their power. And I welcome the growth in prominence of our liberation groups, although I agree we need to do more.

4. Austerity and reversing public service cuts

In 1992 I wrote the only political strategy the Green Party has ever passed democratically and the fact that we should focus more on social rather than environmental issues was at its heart. The reason I became an economist was because of my revulsion at social inequality. I have focused much of my activism and research time on cooperation because I believe in ownership and control by users, producers, and consumers alongside truly democratic systems of management and accountability. Of course we must reverse the cuts but we must also reverse privatisation, enable local control, and support local and community ownership.

5. The Movement for Green Jobs and a Green Socialist future

I’m a lifelong union member and have worked with unionists at their invitation and by inviting them onto panels I organised across the South West to spread the message of the Green New Deal. I’ve been a long-term supporter of the Lucas Plan, have written about it, and use the terminology of ‘industrial conversion’ in connection with the Covid recovery plan. I’ve shared several platforms with Sam Mason of the PCS who is doing such excellent work on this agenda. However, it is clear that the trade unions are not speaking with one voice on this issue, and that is natural as they represent workers in very different sectors, whose prospects as we go through the sustainability transition differ markedly. As Greens, we need to be able to communicate skilfully our determination that nobody should be left behind, that the government should take responsibility and pay for reskilling and employment conversion, and that unions should be actively involved in national plans for the sustainability transition. But when trade unionists seek to protect the jobs of current workers at the expense of future generations we should be prepared to speak out.

6. Are you an eco-socialist?

I’m not a big one for labels to be honest. I have learned a lot from reading Marx but also from reading Keynes and Polanyi. If I needed a label more than ‘Green’, I would probably say I was a ‘guild socialist’, along the lines of William Morris. I think socialism went off track when it became about centralisation and the unified rightness of the party. I see all the struggles you have listed as elements of the same struggle – for liberation, to which I would, of course, add the struggles of LGBTIQA+ and people of colour.

7. Support native and oppressed peoples

I was active in this area as a member of the Latin American delegation of the European Parliament. I spoke at the UN Human Rights committee and in the European Parliament in favour of the contribution that indigenous values and culture can offer to a world struggling to find a path to sustainability. This is huge area and I’ve written about it a lot, but in this limited space I would say that changing the way we think about trade is probably the most fundamental change we should emphasise more. I helped write the new trade paper of the European Greens and organised cross-party lobbying against the Mercosur trade deal. And, of course, using the impetus of Brexit and Black Lives Matter to undergo a national awakening around our shameful history of slave-trading and colonialism.

8.Minority rights

I’ve been a long-term supporter of Palestine liberation, since a visit to the country as a student. As an MEP I was President of the Tibet Interest Group and organised public meetings to publicise their oppression at the hands of the Chinese, and that of the Uighur people. I negotiated a strong resolution passed with a large majority by the European Parliament that condemned Chinese human rights abuses against the Tibetans and spoke at public events and conferences.

9. Making campaigning for PR a Green Party priority
As I said earlier, I think we are in the territory of a Popular Front. I supported the Unite to Reform process  at GE19 and I think PR should be a top priority for the party, not just because our voters are deprived of the 38 seats their support deserve (ERS figures) but also because our lack of proper representation allows the ‘two main parties’ to continue to fail. Labour have chosen to defend their monopolisation of the Left against us as Greens and are willing that the whole country should pay the price of a Tory government to protect them from losing power and influence to us. This is shameful. I think we should take more direct action against Labour MPs who are not taking action to support PR as well as engaging in private negotiations.

10. Oppose Nuclear Power

Before becoming an economist I spent a decade campaigning against nuclear power and I helped set up and edited the magazine Radioactive Times for five years. I campaigned strongly against Hinkley C and am proud of our policy that the decision to invest in a second generation of deadly nuclear power stations should be reversed. As an MEP I helped fund the World Nuclear Industry Status Report that shows how nuclear has nothing to offer in economic or climate terms and is only continuing to stagger on with public support because of the link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

Rupert Read

1. A Campaigning Party vs Elections?

We need to use positions of power to support the wider green movement. For instance, if I were in the House of Lords, I would continue to participate in non-violent direct action to leverage coverage for green issues. I do not see these actions as in tension with winning elections. They will actually help leverage the next Green surge.

2. An accountable Party?

I support the move toward a delegate system for conferences. If done properly, this can enrich our internal democracy by making decisions more accountable to the wider membership. 

3. A party that understands working-class communities?

Ending the growth economy requires the redistribution of wealth. The dirty secret of growthism is that it is a SUBSTITUTE for redistribution. Our proposed Green New Deal will create millions of jobs open to working class communities. To reach beyond our base we need strong communicators. My appearances on Question Time, Politics Live, Today, and other shows have prepared me for top-tier media appearances.

4. Austerity and reversing public service cuts

The Green Party has been effective at holding the mainstream parties to account on austerity. We must continue to do so. However, we have failed to articulate our own distinct vision for public spending in a way that differs from the Corbyn project. We need a distinctly green anti-austerity platform. One which emphasises that opposing cuts is NOT a dogma: we are happy to cut Trident, HS2, etc etc.

5. The Movement for Green Jobs and a Green Socialist future

A Just Transition isn’t only the right thing to do, it is also the best chance we have at moving to a truly sustainable economic system. We won’t achieve this if we do not challenge the pre-existing social stratification that is driving climate breakdown. I fully support a just transition, and have argued strongly for it inside XR as well as inside the Party.

6. Are you an eco-socialist?

I am on the Board of CAPITALISM, NATURE, SOCIALISM, the premier eco-socialist journal, and have published articles in it. Hopefully that answers your question. For me, this means recognising that moving to a zero-growth economy requires restructuring society in an egalitarian way. However, it is of course vital that ecosocialists forge a distinct political identity from the pro-centralisation, pro-growth socialism of old. We must be able to effectively communicate this in media.

7. Support native and oppressed peoples

As a member of the House of Lords I would support oppressed people throughout the world. Indigenous cultures are at the vanguard of fighting ecological destruction. We must support their territorial rights. Similarly, Kurdish people have created an ecological, democratic and feminist society that we must support and learn from.

8.Minority rights

I support oppressed people throughout the world. This means that I support the boycott, divestment and sanctions of goods produced in occupied Palestinian territory. The IHRA definition of antisemitism is problematic, although I could support a modified version that did not include all of their proposed examples of antisemitism.

9. Making campaigning for PR a Green Party priority

This government contains proto-fascist elements and that should profoundly worry us. We need a popular front to confront it. As a member of the House of Lords, I would work cross-party to get important legislation passed. I would draw on my experiencing of working cross-party - in the ‘progressive alliance’, and while I was a local Councillor too - to do this effectively.

10. Oppose Nuclear Power

 Yes. I have been a long-standing critic of nuclear power. We ought to abandon all future plans for nuclear power, and phase out all current use of nuclear power in this country. I am glad you are bringing this motion to conference.

Andrew Cooper

1. A Campaigning Party vs Elections?

I don’t think we are simply focusing on winning elections one by one seat. By contesting elections we are part of the election debate and our policies are considered. The votes we achieve are an expression by electors of their priorities and we give form to that by standing in elections. Yes we want to win seats but there is more to us being an electoral force than that. All those climate campaigners who have been let down by other parties will have a Party to vote for that will not compromise them or their principles. We often forget that the overlap between Green Party members and climate activists is very high and so we shouldn’t consider action on elections and climate change campaigning as in conflict.

 2. An accountable Party?

I am not a fan of delegate conference if that means a single delegate is supposed to represent the many differing views of a Local Party when that local party may not be able to come to a settled view on a complex issue and are all our local parties well developed enough and have regular meetings to ensure there is meaningful discussion before conference. What would happen in the real world with our current local party structures would be the test.

3. A party that understands working-class communities?

As a Councillor representing a largely working class ward in West Yorkshire for the last 21 years I can speak with authenticity about the everyday struggles of people on low incomes and the wider working class. Getting more Green Councillors representing  areas where the ‘factory settings’ vote has been Labour is important to inform our Party and to show that we are the real alternative to Labour for the working class.

4. Austerity and reversing public service cuts

 Well I have focused on tackling austerity and I and my Green Party colleagues stood out against cuts to social care and other services by Labour on our local Council. I agree that we need to properly fund local services and do so in a way that protects the most vulnerable in society.

5. The Movement for Green Jobs and a Green Socialist future

In my role as Green Party Energy Spokesperson I know of or have engaged with these organisations. I would seek to continue to work with these groups to be part of a broader coalition with shared values and overlapping policy objectives. Yes I understand acutely what Just Transition means and know that it is not simply an issue to ensure justice between the Global North and Glocal South but also to ensure climate justice within countries as well as we move not just towards a safer world but a better world.

6. Are you an eco-socialist?

Ecosocialism combines the ideas of ecology and socialism, meaning that you have a society without class divisions that lives in harmony with nature.

A huge question that you could write an essay about. In brief climate change has been created in a world of economic inequality and exploitation of people and resources with Democracy often ignored, rigged or perverted so much that it loses its value. It is unlikely to say the least that such a system will solve the crisis therefore system change is needed.

7. Support native and oppressed peoples

A real opportunity to do this comes through engaging the UN COP process. At COP23 in Bonn I participated in the Talanoa Dialogue which enabled indigenous people to give their story on how climate change affected them and the threat it posed to their communities. The important thing though Is to ensure these stories influence policy and that allies from the global North help those communities to be heard. As a former member of the EU Committee of the Regions for 5 years I am used to working across national boundaries and have seen the benefits of collaboration globally during the 4 UN COP events I have attended. I needed the support of local government globally, through the LGMA, to successfully influence the UN to give more say to local and regional Governments locally in national climate action plans.

8.Minority rights

Yes I oppose colonialist oppression in all its forms and I support BDS.

The IHRA definition of Anti Semitism has its problems but it is still possible to robustly attack the policies of Israel, defend Palestine and not conflict with the IHRA definition. So I would focus on the actions of the Israeli Government and not make reference to the IHRA definition.

9. Making campaigning for PR a Green Party priority

I would seek their support for Proportional Representation in the new Mayoral/Unitary Authorities being contemplated to replace County/District Councils. This will be the first time that new Councils have been created en-masse. The elected Mayors will be elected by a form of PR so it makes sense that the new Councils use the same system for electing their Councillors and as already happens in Scotland. This would be an easy toe in the water for Labour and would help demonstrate whether they have any appetite to go further. It also helps that Labour has traditionally been weak at the County level.

10. Oppose Nuclear Power

As Green Party Energy Spokesperson I have spoken out many times about the folly expense and danger of nuclear power and particularly Hinkley and more recently Sizewell C. Quite apart from the dangers of nuclear power it is the fact that the billions being spent on Hinckley could be better directed at energy efficiency and renewable energy to far greater effect. So yes I’ll support the motion.

Amelia Womack

1. A Campaigning Party vs Elections?

I’m a campaigner at my heart, and it’s vital for us that we keep making change happen by winning grassroots campaigns. The best way to institutionalise change is to ensure that we have Greens elected to embed progressive policy. Campaigning can dovetail into target to win, and I am proud we have introduced Action Network to help build those links.

2. An accountable Party?

Our membership has grown substantially during my time as deputy leader which has brought about massive changes to our systems and resources. We now need to invest to replace our ageing computer systems and to update resources we can provide to local parties. We also need to remove the barriers for people to attend conference, which is currently coming to a members vote to reflect our grassroots values.

3. A party that understands working-class communities?

As co-chair of the People’s Assembly, and a proud member of a trade union, I have worked hard to integrate the party with like minded bodies aiming to support workers movements. I have campaigned constantly against austerity which has hit communities, whose constant fight for fairness we must support.

4. Austerity and reversing public service cuts

Absolutely, and this is central to my politics as Green Party Deputy Leader and as Co-Chair of the People’s Assembly. I grew up in Newport and have lived in Liverpool and London, so I have seen how austerity has ravaged communities and local government across Wales and England. We need a new deal for the people which reverses these cuts, and where the wealthy get taxed and tax loopholes get closed, to reverse the widening gaps in our society.

5. The Movement for Green Jobs and a Green Socialist future

I support all of these campaigns, and I am proud of all our members who have been involved in their creation. We now need to put Just Transition at the heart of our messaging and campaigns for a Green New Deal.

 

6. Are you an eco-socialist?

I have consistently and proudly stated that I am an ecosocialist. As a qualified Environmental Biologist, I want to ensure that we stop the climate and ecological emergency, but we must ensure that social justice, and equality are intertwined with these solutions. Solutions to the climate emergency won’t come from our broken capitalist system led by greed and inequality.

7. Support native and oppressed peoples

The only solution to our climate emergency will be an international one. We need to liberate indigenous people and also we need to take responsibility for the damage we have done, and are still doing, around the world. We need to end the UK’s involvement in the arms trade and investments in global fossil fuel projects, protect aid budgets, campaign for free movement of people and make the UK a place of refuge.

8.Minority rights

I have worked with Palestine Solidarity Campaign and have spoken at their events to communicate the Green Party’s position. We need to challenge the statement on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions in last year's Queens Speech. It’s important that we protect Jewish people and their rights as well as criticising leaders who are destroying Palestine. 

9. Making campaigning for PR a Green Party priority

I have campaigned consistently for proportional representation, votes for 16 and 17 years old and electoral reform. This is always an area where Greens should be campaigning, not just because it holds back the party but also because our undemocratic system is disenfranchising so many people. Wales has made steps in the right direction, and shows a progressive path for Labour and the unions, and England needs to catch up.

10. Oppose Nuclear Power

I will support this motion. I believe that investment in nuclear power takes funding away from green energy projects, and projects to reduce energy consumption. We are increasingly moving towards a system where fossil fuels are playing a decreasing role which is great. We also need to ensure the huge clean up bills for aged nuclear power infrastructure is paid for from the pockets of the wealthy investors who have profited from nuclear.