What do you want your MP to fight for?

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party leader, talks to voters in Brighton and explains what the Green Party is fighting for [from the Channel 4 Political Slot]:

Green Party Meeting 16 February

We are holding a meeting on the 16 February at 1 Elmwood Avenue, Hoole, Chester at 7.30pm. This is an important meeting because we will be planning the launch of our general election campaign. We expect the election to be on 6 May and we have a lot of work to do to get prepared.

Please make an effort to attend if you can. I’ll be travelling from Northwich if anyone needs a lift.

Incinerator plans will blight Northwich

The proposed Brunner Mond incineration plant in Lostock comes alongside the Bedminster plant at Lostock, the proposed RSS plant in Wincham and the proposed Covanta incinerator in Middlewich turning mid Cheshire into the Northwest’s favourite dumping ground. And this with the incinerators which will be built in Runcorn (850,000 tonnes) and Ince Marsh (600,000 tonnes). It’s not just the potential health impacts and increase in heavy traffic that should cause people concern it’s also the threat to greener methods of waste management.

Incinerators cost huge amounts of money to build on the Private Finance Initiative and are operated on long term contracts. They have to be fed. As we reduce the waste we produce we will have to either import more waste into Cheshire or burn waste that could have been recycled. So incineration threatens to undermine best waste management practice.

The ‘Sustainable’ Energy Plant at Brunner Mond is neither sustainable, eco-friendly nor green. The proposal to import a further 600,000 tonnes of waste into Cheshire for incineration is bad news for the people of the Northwich area.

Incineration is a form of waste disposal which is opposed by the Green Party. We should be concentrating our efforts on genuinely green and sustainable methods of waste management such as waste elimination, reduction, re-use and recycling. Surrey County Council has recently ditched plans for two incinerators because the amount of waste in the County is falling. If they can do that – so can we. Why do the councillors in Cheshire West and Chester Council have such low aspirations when it comes to waste management in this district? I oppose the Brunner Mond plans to build an incinerator in Northwich and support the efforts of CHAIN to stop Northwich being blighted.

My General election campaign

So that's it. I am the Green Party prospective parliamentary candidate for Weaver Vale. Why am I doing it? Because someone has to. Someone and some party has to try and break the mould of British politics and build a better future. Its a difficult nut to crack I know. I've never fully understood why. Why do people continue to support two main parties that now have very little to offer us? Parties that are fighting over the same sterile ground.

Of course I know why there are lots of people who want don't want to vote for the Green Party. They think we're a bunch of tree hugging hippies. But we are serious people who want make a real difference and we've got the policies to prove it. We don't have the resources and donations from big business and wealthy individuals that our opponents can rely upon.We have a mammoth task to get our message across but we are going to give it our best shot.

Political apathy suits the Tories and New Labour. It simply makes it easier for them to govern and get elected. At a time when the political class is devoid of ideology, stuffed with careerists and in the pockets of big business we need people to fight for social and economic justice. The Green Party needs your support.

To see what can happen where the Green Party has an active membership watch this video about Adrian Ramsay's general election campaign in Norwich South.

I'll be keeping you up with how my campaign is going on this blog. If you want to help in my campaign please contact me at howard.thorp@virgin.net