Green Party leader visits Exeter to launch County Council manifesto
The new leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Natalie Bennett, is visiting Devon Today (Tuesday 5 March) to launch the Green Party Manifesto for Devon for the May Devon County Council elections.
Voted in as party leader during 2012, her visit will also include meeting Devon farmers to discuss the horse meat scandal and the impact of climate change on farming.
Independent traders in Honiton and Exeter will also have an opportunity to meet her to talk about the challenges facing small businesses and enterprises. Natalie will visit the Bus station site in Exeter to endorse calls from local Green Party members for a market square, space for independent businesses and a new state of the art bus station as part of the redevelopment.
At the recent Green Party Conference Natalie Bennett said:
“The Green Party has a positive alternative vision, of a country where the minimum wage is a living wage, where benefits are set at a level allowing a decent life and granted ungrudgingly to all who need them, where there are warm, comfortable low-carbon homes for all. A country with a jobs-rich, low-carbon economy, with orchards and richly growing fields, vibrant manufacturing industries, and strong local economies built around small businesses and cooperatives; a country living within the limits of our one planet.”
Andrew Bell, County Council candidate in Exeter St David’s and St James says of her visit to Devon:
“It is great to have Natalie visit to launch our manifesto in Devon, especially so soon after the national conference in Nottingham. This is a manifesto that offers distinctive and desirable solutions to the many social, economic and environmental challenges facing us in Devon; a manifesto that elected Green Councillors will work hard to see implemented.”
The Green Party in Devon is standing more candidates than ever before at the County Council Elections offering the electors of Devon a real alternative to the failed policies of the Coalition parties, which have stalled the economy at a national level whilst cutting jobs and services across the county.
Natalie was elected leader of the Green Party on 3 September 2012, replacing the former leader Caroline Lucas (MP for Brighton Pavilion). Originally employed as a journalist, she was editor of The Guardian Weekly from December 2007 to March 2012. She has a long interest in environmental issues, as well as subjects affecting women, having also founded the Green Party women’s group. Since being elected as leader of the Green Party she has campaigned for “a better, more equal healthier Britain.” This has involved affordable train fares, sustainable development and the resistance to the privatisation of the NHS.
Schedule:
8.30am: meeting directors of Co-Cars, the car club for Exeter
9.30am: Visit and talk with local organic farmers in East Devon
10.30am: Honiton High Street with Green Party Councillor Sharon Pavey
12.45pm: Meet directors of Real Food Store, Exeter, finalists in the Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards, 11 & 13 Paris Street, Exeter, EX1 2JB
2.00pm: Exeter Bus station, to discuss development of the site
2.50pm: Meet with County Council Election candidates outside County Hall, Topsham Road
3.45pm: Meet local traders and public for tea at Cafe @36, 36 Cowick St, Exeter, EX4 1AW
