18 December 2017

Green Party Co-Leader Jonathan Bartley has said the decision by Donald Trump to omit climate change from the US security strategy marks the moment when his authority “expired”.

Earlier today it was revealed [1] that, in a dramatic change from President Obama’s priorities, the Trump administration will drop climate change from a list of global threats in a new National Security Strategy.

Mr Bartley said:

“The first responsibility of any political leader is the protection and security of those in their charge. This will go down in history as the moment the US president abdicated responsibility for his country. Trump’s authority had already gone well past its sell-by date. Now it has positively expired. 

“All across America communities are rejecting his reckless leadership and he is being shunned abroad. His willful ignorance of the threats that the world faces and his denial of scientific fact will surely consign him to the same historical category as King Canute.”

Notes

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/18/trump-drop-climate-change-national-security-strategy 

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14 December 2017

Deputy Leader of the Green Party Amelia Womack says that campaigners are winning the fight to stop fracking for good ahead of her visit to the proposed fracking site at Kirby Misperton [1].

A decision to allow fracking to start at the Yorkshire site was expected last month but the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark, who has faced heavy lobbying from campaigners, has delayed giving the green light.

Womack believes a vital point in the fight to stop fracking across the UK has been reached as momentum is now with environmental protesters.

Womack said:

“To the people on the frontline against fracking in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and across the country I say thank you and just look at what you have achieved. A delay of even a few days or weeks might not seem like a great deal but it is so so important. It shows hesitation on the government’s part. It’s given us more space to make the arguments against fracking. It’s shown that the likes of Third Energy and Cuadrilla who are determined to get rich off the destruction of communities and ecosystems cannot have it all their own way. It shows we are winning.

“We might look back at this moment in future as a time when the tide turned against the frackers. I’m looking forward to thanking you in person and to being with you once again in the fight to stop fracking.”

Both Cuadrilla and Third Energy have faced legal challenges against their attempts to frack in Lancashire and Yorkshire respectively [2]. Local residents have raised concerns that the companies are not carrying out necessary environmental monitoring and in Lancashire the government’s move to force through fracking against the wishes of the local council has caused outrage.

Notes

[1] Amelia Womack will arrive at Kirby Misperton at 12.30pm on 15th December 2017

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/29/campaigners-launch-last-ditch-appeal-to-stop-fracking-in-lancashire

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/09/04/no-uk-fracking-this-year-as-yorkshire-legal-challenge-drags-on/

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13 December 2017

Responding to the news that Sheffield Council Cabinet has voted unanimously to fell 41 memorial trees, Alison Teal, Green Party Councillor for the city, said:

“This week we’ve seen trees adorned with Christmas decorations brought down without notice and now the council has decided that the social historical significance and beauty of 41 memorial trees can be dismissed and disregarded. I urge the council to cease their insensitive felling of the city’s trees and restore its green heart and heritage.”

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13 December 2017

Co-Leader of the Green Party Jonathan Bartley says the latest statistics [1] on the use of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) reveals the government’s “twisted priorities”.

The annual statistics show that nearly half (47%) of claimants to the Disability Living Allowance element of PIP who had a reassessment this year either saw their allowance decreased or disallowed. The statistics reveal that 443,000 people will have had their claims reduced or removed.

Meanwhile a Freedom of Information request submitted by the party to the Department of Work and Pensions found that the amount paid to the private companies tasked with carrying out PIP assessment has increased by an average of 30% [2]. 

Bartley said:

“The Government is taking food from the mouths of disabled people while laying on a banquet for private companies. This comes only a week after Philip Hammond revealed his biases by labelling disabled people a drain on UK productivity. It shows just how twisted the Government’s priorities have become.

“By slashing away at welfare, the Government is heading in totally the wrong direction. It is weaponising welfare against those it should help. It is time it recalibrated it’s moral compass and steered it’s policies in a new direction. We need a new, modern vision for the welfare state – one that removes barriers for those who want to work, while giving real choices and opportunity to everyone. It could start by piloting a universal basic income that supports every person, with extra payments made available to those – like the disabled –  ensuring everyone can lead the pursue the life they want.”

Notes

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/666525/pip-statistics-to-october-2017.pdf

[2]                              

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8 December 2017

The Green Party says a “crucial step” has been achieved in its campaign to make misogyny a hate crime, after a police official said they were considering the idea [1].

Deputy leader Amelia Womack announced a campaign for misogyny to be made a hate crime during her speech to Green Party autumn conference in October [2].

Assistant chief constable Mark Hamilton told the Women and Equalities Committee that misogyny could be considered a factor in crimes like harassment and assault. He gave evidence to the committee on Wednesday during a discussion about sexism and sexual harassment faced by women.

Hamilton, whose work focuses on hate crime, described misogyny as a ‘significant issue’ and said ‘we are planning to put papers through… about the consideration of misogyny as a sixth strand of hate crime’.

Womack was motivated by her own experience of domestic violence, which she spoke publically about for the first time earlier this year [3]. On November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Green Party handed in a petition to the Home Office signed by more than 5000 people calling for misogyny to be recorded as a hate crime.

Womack said:

“It’s great to see police are taking misogyny seriously and recognising that sometimes women are targeted simply because they are women, whether it’s groping on the dance floor, harassment in the streets or rape. I’m really pleased to see our campaign take this crucial step forward.

“If gender-based violence was properly recognised there would be new avenues for women to report acts of aggression or abuse. It’s so important that women feel confident to come forward and talk about their experiences. It’s beyond time that our society acknowledged the suffering caused by misogyny.”

Notes:

1. https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/women-and-equalities-committee/news-parliament-2017/khkj/
2. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/green-party-calls-for-hate-crimes-to-be-recorded-by-the-gender-of-victims-a7992236.html
3. https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/i-abusive-relationship-two-years-police-let-now-im-fighting-chan

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