Greens closing in on East Euro seat

Graham Dines

THE Green Party is entering the final days of campaigning for the European Parliament in the firm belief that they will poll enough votes to get an MEP elected for the East of England.

Under the list system of proportional representation used for elections to Brussels, the Greens will need around 9% of the total for their lead candidate Dr Rupert Read to win a seat representing Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

In 2004, they polled 5.6% in the East, but the party believes that voters furious with Westminster MPs will give their backing to the Greens.

In its manifesto, the party promises to turn the Eastern region into a renewable energy heartland, creating lots of new green jobs in the region in the process and to achieve an international agreement on dangerous climate change.

The Greens say they will divert much of the substantial EU transport budget money away from out-of-date road-building schemes, and instead invest it into making public transport better and more affordable for all.

They pledge to clean up politics and restore the reputation “of those of us who are honest statesmen, rather than crooks,” says Dr Read.

“The three old Parties have been badly tarnished by the Westminster scandals, and some UKIP MEPs have been caught out - Green politics, by contrast, is clean politics.”

Dr Read says: “We are getting an excellent reception around the region. The expenses scandal appears to have sent the three main parties to ground - we hear that some of their canvassers are getting a roasting on the doorsteps!”

In the 1999 and 2004 elections, two Green MEPs were elected, one for London and the other for the South East region. The party has also won a number of seats on local councils and are hoping to pick up county council seats in Suffolk and Essex in the elections to be held on June 4, the same day as the European poll.