I welcome the fight by the Lloyds TSB Group Union to stop the transfer of a further 1500 jobs to India (6/02/04). This export of jobs is nothing knew. Last year the Citizen reported HSBC plans to cut 5,400 jobs. In Britain, where nearly a quarter of the population lives in poverty, workers are increasingly denied jobs because the industries are being exported. We are also dismantling our core industrial capacity, as is the United States and the rest of Western Europe, leaving us dependent on Chinese factories. Internationally, the global transportation of goods increases producing greenhouse gases that threaten to destroy our economies with climate. This is globalisation and the three main parties in this country are signed up to it. Trade unions brought us a decent workplace and a living wage, but production now tends to migrate to where costs are lowest. Profit-hungry corporations seek lower paid staff overseas. This latest threat to jobs is just the tip of the iceberg. Greens argue there is an alternative to globalisation. We need a full range of policies including tax to build a balanced and stable economy with sustainable jobs. Policies like our Green industrial strategy, that will preserve Britain's manufacturing industry, tackle climate change, build a stable and sustainable economy, and create meaningful jobs all at the same time. This will also avoid the havoc traditionally wreaked on local communities and regions whenever an industry on which they are dependent moves abroad. At the same time we need fairer aid and trade policies to enable countries like India and China raise wages, working conditions and environmental standards - this would benefit their own populations AND workers in the UK. In the past Greens have been perceived as being 'anti-industry'. Nothing could be further from the truth - the sooner industry realises that the key to real progress is a new green industrial revolution, the better.

Martin Whiteside, Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Stroud Hillside, Claypits lane, Lypiatt, Stroud, Glos. GL6 7LU