Green Euroelections - Cllr Andrew Cooper, Lead candidate for Yorkshire & The Humber Region

In 2009, Yorkshire & The Humber region saw a rise in the Green Party vote at the European elections, but they were just pipped at the post, as in the North West, by the BNP. Just 1.3% separated the two.

Now, with the BNP imploded - their MEP left the party and set up his own, which is not standing - the Greens are working hard to gain their first seat in the region for the European Parliament. With councillors already elected in Scarborough, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, York and Kirklees, they have selected Huddersfield's Cllr Andrew Cooper as the lead candidate. Here he is.

GreenAid: The Video

Employing some humour to make a point has often been the most effective way of make a message stick. And so, as covered in the last blog piece, last weekend found the Liberal Democrats' federal conference in York being offered the services of a group of enthusiastic volunteer medics from the Green Party. Styling themselves on the 1970s M*A*S*H* satire, the Greens offered a range of support to the Lib Dems, whom they assumed would by now be riddled with guilt and disoriented from nearly four years of Coalition with the Tories.

Green Eurocandidates for Yorkshire and the Humber region were on hand to offer sympathy and remedies including an organic detox centre to get clean from the Coalition. However, after engaging with a number of Lib Dems, the Greens' lead candidate, Cllr Andrew Cooper, concluded that it was a hopeless case - those who remain in the Lib Dems apparently are either in deep denial about what they have done (and even what is happening to their collapsing party) or simply have no conscience in terms of the impact of their doings on society.

York is often portrayed as a "chocolate box" city, the epitome of what England should look like (or even does look like in American TV shows). But scratch the surface and the story is very different. Over a century ago, Seebohm Rowntree's groundbreaking report exposed the widespread poverty in what, even then, was regarded as a successful town. A century later and many statistics show that very little has changed - tens of thousands of people in the city, as elsewhere, remain mired in poverty. That the Lib Dems felt it was acceptable to turn up and proclaim the supposed success of the Coalition demonstrates their detachment from the reality of Britain today. But, as the video shows, the crowds of trade unionists, Greens, socialists, physiotherapists, actors, Labrador dogs and others who rallied outside the Barbican did their best to put them right.

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Bite The Ballot! say Greens for National Voter Registration Day

Cllr Andrew Cooper, who is the Greens' national energy & environment speaker and heads the Green Party's European candidates' list in Yorkshire & The Humber, has urged all people 18 years and over who are entitled to vote, whether they are UK, EU or Commonwealth nationals or citizens, to register to do so. He was speaking ahead of 'National Voter Registration Day', which takes place on Wednesday (February 5th) and which aims to encourage people to sign up to vote.

Non-party campaign group 'Bite the Ballot' are organising this year's campaign, which is timed to mark the anniversary of the 1832 Reform Act which gave many of us (well, many men anyway!) the right to vote for the first time.

Greens' Andrew Cooper - bite the ballot!

'Bite the Ballot!' hopes as many as 250,000 UK residents – especially younger people – will register to vote on Wednesday.

Echoing a similar call from Green Euro-MP Jean Lambert, Cllr Cooper said "All citizens have a democratic right to influence what is happening to our society - and the first step is to register to vote. I hope that everyone who is entitled to do so will make their voices heard this May - whatever party they support. It is all the more relevant when the European elections are being held under a form of proportional representation - so very powerfully, this time at least, everyone's vote counts equally.

"This is about ensuring that all who can vote are able to do so by registering - at least they then have a choice whether to vote or not, or even stand for election."

Elections to the European Parliament, as well as to many local authorities will be held on Thursday, May 22^nd.

Click HERE to Bite the Ballot!

No Fracking Please, We're British, say Greens

Press Release from Cllr Andrew Cooper, Green Party national Energy & Environment Speaker and lead Eurocandidate for Yorkshire & The Humber.

“No Fracking Way” say Greens

Or - Maybe the Bulgarians, Romanians and Leo Sayer know something we don’t!

 

Around the world, Greens are supporting local communities in their campaigns against fracking in their neighbourhoods. Across Europe, fracking is banned in Northern Ireland, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania. There are further bans in areas of Spain and Switzerland. (1)

 

In Australia, veteran popstar Leo Sayer has even done a song about it called No Fracking Way! (2)

 

Andrew Cooper, Kirklees councillor and Green Party Energy spokesperson, said, 

“Maybe the Bulgarians and the Romanians know something we don’t! Maybe it’s not a coincidence that both their countries ban fracking – along with many EU states. And they’ve stayed at home in their droves, in their green and pleasant lands!

 

“Fracking wouldn’t get anywhere without serious Government support, tax breaks and other subsidies, hence today’s transparent ‘sweetener’ to councils.

 

“As the Green Party has always said, the greatest potential for energy savings is in insulation and energy efficiency. Doing the oil industry’s marketing for them shows Government has no interest in helping householders control their energy demand. They simply want to smooth the way for massive environmental exploitation by oil giants.

 

“Government supposedly believes in ‘localism’ and allowing Councils to make their own decisions. But when Council funding is drastically cut by central government and they are then offered money to accept fracking on their land, it is clearly nothing less than ‘bribery’.

 

“Government has today backed environmentally damaging shale gas extraction just as it has scaled back support for people to insulate their homes.

 

"“They’ve dropped the pretence that fracked gas will reduce fuel bills for householders and they are doing nothing for households in fuel poverty.

 

It is also significant that this policy is not being applied to renewable energy installations demonstrating the governments growing lack of commitment to the green economic sector.

 

 1.   http://oilpatchasia.com/2013/10/9-countries-or-regions-that-ban-fracking/

 2. Leo Sayer's anti-fracking song for the Australian campaign - Pretty good!!  http://v.gd/BAdbQa

 3.  Green Leader Natalie Bennett’s youtube interview on today's govt fracking 'bribe', where she does brilliantly! http://v.gd/hOUQQe