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 Robert Rendell will be representing the Green Party in the coming General Election.
The Green Party will be challenging over 200 parliamentary seats this year including 5 out of the 6 Gloucestershire seats. Greens got over a million votes in last years European elections and have 2 MEPs, 7 SMPs in Scotland plus 2 London Assembly members and over 60 councillors nationwide.
Robert Rendell, who lives in Brockworth, said: "People are fed-up with the three main parties. They can see issues like climate change and the power of big business are just not being tackled. Greens got over a million votes in last years European elections. This is the first time people in the Borough of Tewkesbury will have the chance to vote for a Green MP. Every green vote will send a message that the business as usual politics of Westminster is no longer good enough."
Robert Rendell, who runs a local hearing aid audiology company, said: "The 'Big Three' parties are often heard paying lip-service to "local enterprise", whilst actually delivering policies that unremittingly favour huge corporations and close down small businesses. The consequences have devastated local economies and high streets, so much so that the major supermarkets now control up to 80% of their market share. Greens are different. Support and regeneration of small businesses and local services lies at the heart of our policy making, and indeed, our entire philosophical basis."
Robert is married and his daughter attends the local secondary school. He is a school governor at the Brockworth Enterprise School. In the hearing aid audiology company he runs, he is involved with both student training and patient care. Robert has been in the Green Party since the '70s when it was still called the Ecology Party. In the past he has stood for local council elections in Brockworth.
Major campaign themes
Robert Rendell outlined the three main campaign themes where action is needed:
Robert Rendell said: "Climate Change is happening now. Tony Blair is fooling no one by promising action then not mentioning it in his 6 pledges and then voting to actually increase the carbon emissions allowed for industry. We must also stop other parties plans to double and treble our aviation industry within 20 years and stop the £30BN roadbuilding programme. This could then be invested in sustainable transport and renewable energies.
"We must stop selling public services. Rail services must be back into public ownership, no more Foundation Hospitals and no more PFIs that are such poor value for money. What people want is a good service in their local hospital, free at the point of delivery, proper funding for public services, no tuition fees and no top up fees.
"Tony Blair took this country to war on a lie. This is no longer in doubt. No WMDs were ever found and the dodgy dossier was another piece of Downing Street fiction. Millions of us demonstrated across the UK to tell Blair, but he believed he was “doing the right thing”. 100,000 Iraqis dead. There can be no justification that the means justified the end."
Further information:
Robert Rendell can be contacted through his election agent: Elinor Croxall, 3 Milsom Street, Cheltenham, Glos. GL50 1XP Mobile: 07754199713 Tel: +44 (0) 1242 700022
Philip Booth, Press Officer Gloucestershire Green Party 01453 755451
Keith Bessant, Cheltenham Green Party 0845 3454399
500 word statement by Robert Rendell
The Greens are often dismissed as a single-issue party. This isn’t an accurate description as we have detailed policies on all the important issues such as taxation, education, health, immigration, law & order etc, but there is a simple philosophy at the heart of all our policies; the need to protect our environment for ourselves and future generations.
Environmental destruction and global warming are the greatest threat to our future; discussions about prosperity and economic growth are meaningless when facing a global catastrophe. To tackle climate change we must have massive reductions in energy use and the other parties are ignoring this fact. Pressure from big business has ensured that the targets set for reducing greenhouse gasses are far too low and ineffectual. I believe that we must change the nature of national and international economy to put environmental considerations before those of the money markets.
All three main parties put free trade and profit before sustainability, and this cannot continue if we are to protect the world we live in.
Linked with our policies on the environment are our beliefs on fairness and justice for all. Our current economic system has created a world where a better quality of life for some comes at the expense of a widening gap between rich and poor. The problem is even worse globally where billions face real poverty and deprivation. Corporate profit tends to suit a few while the majority suffer. Even in Britain the wealthiest 20% pay a smaller percentage of tax than the poorest 20%.
We are the only party to oppose the privatisation of our public services and would halt their sell-off through public-private partnerships. The list of failed privatisations is long, including hospital cleaning, school meals and the railways. I believe important public services must be in public ownership, so that everyone reaps the benefits, not just the rich minority – the ‘fat cats’.
A sustainable economy won’t suit everyone. There will be fewer cars on the roads, fewer planes in the air, big companies will make smaller profits and the wealthy will pay more tax. However the benefits from these changes will outweigh any disadvantages. We will have a fairer world with less suffering and poverty, and an economy that doesn’t rely on the destruction of our environment. We will have a world we can hand down to our children and grandchildren.
A Green vote is never wasted. In the European Elections over a million people voted Green and we have 2 MEPs, 7 Scottish MPs and many councillors. This is the first time Greens are standing in Tewkesbury for Westminister and every single green vote will send a message that the current way we do politics is no longer good enough.
Pressure to vote for a party you don't want, to keep out someone worse, is just blackmail used to prop up our unfair electoral system. Don't give in to blackmail. We need a political programme that is for at least the next hundred years, not just the next hundred days. If you don't vote for what you really want, you're never going to get it.
Robert Rendell
Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Tewkesbury
For more information telephone 01453 750962
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