I wrote the following letter to the Bath Chronicle following the election of our first Green MEP in the South West, Molly Scott Cato:
Congratulations to Molly Scott Cato, Green Party MEP, and her team on her election to the European Parliament. After coming close to gaining an MEP in 2009, the Greens continue to grow as a party, both with voter share and members, and as a result we will be sending our first representative from the SW.
This election established the Green Party as the challengers to the right wing policies of Tories, UKIP and Liberal Democrats. Voters who support the Green Party at the General Election will be voting for the genuinely radical party, committed to social justice and opposing austerity. Locally within BaNES, Greens came third, beating Labour and the Liberal Democrats. With the largest number of votes for a progressive party, we are confident about the General Election next year.
The Greens have campaigned on a positive manifesto of a Europe working for the common good. We believe that this chimes with an increasing number of voters who are interested in a parliament working to improve the lives of everyone in the UK and Europe, rather than parties who campaign on negativity and fail to vote for our interests in the European Parliament.
Dominic Tristram, Green Party Perspective Parliamentary Candidate for Bath