14 April 2021

As a mark of respect the Green Party will be halting all national campaigning in the period leading up to, during and following the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh. 

This suspension will begin at 8pm Friday night and run until 8am Sunday morning. 

Co-leader Jonathan Bartley said: “The Green Party will be joining in this moment of national mourning for the Duke of Edinburgh. 

 “It will no doubt be an immensely difficult and emotional time for the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family as they lay Prince Philip to rest. Our thoughts will be with them all.”

ENDS

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9 April 2021

The Green Party has expressed sincere condolences to the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family following the sad news of the Duke of Edinburgh’s passing at the age of 99.

Co-leader Sian Berry said: “The Queen and Prince Philip were married for more than 70 years and this is undoubtedly a time of great sadness.

“Prince Philip made a notable contribution to connecting young people with nature and the outdoors through the founding of the DofE award scheme.

“Like so many people across the country, our thoughts are with the Queen and her family today.”

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31 March 2021

• Jonathan Bartley: “The government still doesn’t seem to have grasped the meaning of the phrase ‘climate emergency’”

The COP26 climate change summit must go ahead in November, the Greens have warned amid reports that it could be delayed for a second time. [1]

Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said:

“The government still doesn’t seem to have grasped the meaning of the phrase ‘climate emergency’. We have already left it 30 years too late to take urgent global action and we cannot allow the vital UN COP26 to be delayed again.

“We appreciate how important face-to-face meetings are during negotiations, but what is absolutely essential is that we stop delaying these vital talks and start the process of ensuring global emissions are reduced as quickly as possible.

“We would urge the government to start preparing now to make sure it can still be held this year, even if that means a limited number of personal meetings, with good ventilation and social distancing, combined with online meetings. This would enable the conference to take place in November – already a year later than scheduled.

“However, it is vital that we avoid any situation that further marginalises those countries who are most at risk from the climate crisis as they are the ones on the frontline of the battle against climate change.

“If there must be limits on numbers then we call on the government now to set out how it will prioritise those most at risk.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://news.sky.com/story/cop26-climate-change-summit-may-have-to-be-postponed-again-or-radically-changed-due-to-covid-12261820

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31 March 2021

• Greens accuse Government of using race commission report to whitewash institutional racism

The Green Party has condemned the summary of a report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities as a deliberate attempt to whitewash institutional racism.

The members of the Commission, set up in the wake of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, were chosen by no. 10 advisor  Munira Mirza, and its report confirms her view – and that of the Prime Minister – that the UK is not in the grip of institutional racism.

Cleo Lake, former Lord Mayor of Bristol and the Green Party’s candidate for PCC for Avon and Somerset, said:

“Following hard on the heels of measures in the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill intended to clamp down on protest and ‘speaking out’ against systemic government failures, this report is a further manifestation of a government committed to a strategy of divide-and-conquer rather than social justice and cohesion.

“The Bill is one part of a backlash against the BLM protests; this report is another. The Bill seeks to block people of colour from expressing their rightful outrage at injustice; the report seeks to deny their reality and signals to white people that they have no need to change their behaviour.

“To dismiss the divisions in this country that stem from British colonial history is to do a huge disservice to the many millions of British people who are trying to relearn, inform themselves, and help build a more equitable society.”

Basing her comments in her decades of experience of working with communities of Afrikan descent in Bristol, Lake continued:

“For our society to heal we need more people to follow the mantra ‘I hear you, I see you, I believe you’ when we, as global majority people, speak of our experiences. This report is yet another attempt to silence us and deny our lived experience of institutional racism.

“The report’s conclusions fly in the face of a series of reports that find that people of Afrikan descent in particular face huge barriers at work, are ten times likely to be in prison, are routinely subjected to vile abuse, and deal with a hostile police force on a daily basis.

“Those reports have clear recommendations. Rather than using a new report to whitewash the reality of institutional racism, the government should act on those recommendations.”

ENDS

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31 March 2021

• Jonathan Bartley: “After the long, dark winter of Covid we want to make sure that we bring spring into all our council chambers with new hope for a greener, more caring future”

The Green Party will today [Wednesday 31 March] launch its local election campaign with a pledge to build a Green Recovery in every community across the country.

Ahead of the local elections on 6 May, the Greens are looking to build on their record results from the last local elections in 2019, which saw the party more than double their number of councillors.[1]

This year, the party is looking to win even more seats and has pledged that each and every councillor will continue the hard work of those currently elected in bringing about a Green Recovery from the coronavirus pandemic which will tackle climate change and reduce inequality.

Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley will officially launch the campaign in Battersea Park, London, today.

Ahead of the launch, Bartley said: 

“At the last local elections the Green Party doubled our number of councillors, which has proved absolutely vital over the last year as they have been the ones leading their communities and working hard to bring about a Green Recovery in their area.

“Greens make change. Whether it be motions to create thousands of jobs in retrofitting homes in Norwich [2], or the Green-led Brighton and Hove Council passing a motion with £27 million of climate action in it [3], we know what it takes to make sure we all recover from this pandemic in a way that offers a better future for everybody.

“After the long, dark winter of Covid we want to make sure that we bring spring into all our council chambers with new hope for a greener, more caring future. This year it is more vital than ever that Greens are elected so that we can fight for a fairer, Greener future for all.”

While the Greens have welcomed others’ support for its Green New Deal, Greens across the country would go further, faster to transform the UK’s housing to make all homes warmer and more energy efficient, revolutionise our transport and rapidly roll out renewable energy across the country. [4]

Hundreds of thousands of low carbon jobs would be created to carry out this work.

Bartley said: “The government is categorically failing to invest sufficiently in the Green sector. It is Green councillors and activists on the ground, working with local communities up and down the country, who are picking up the slack and doing what they can to ensure a green recovery for all.

“It’s vital that local councils have climate in mind as we build the economy back after Covid. More Green councillors means a stronger commitment in all our council chambers to the climate action that we all know is urgently needed  – and to the good, green jobs that this will create.”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/local-election-results/

2

https://twitter.com/jajo_osborn/status/1372138573894418434

3

https://www.brightonhovegreens.org/2021/02/25/greens-secure-backing-for-a-budget-with-recovery-from-crisis-at-its-heart/

4

https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2020/04/22/green-new-deal-needed-when-uk-starts-to-reboot-economy-after-coronavirus,-greens-say-on-earth-day/

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