I have defected to the Liberal Democrats following differences with myself and the national Green Party. I have rejoined a party I left at the start of the previous government as a result of the direction I felt the party was heading in, but I am confident in the fight back of the party following the election of Tim Farron as party leader and the spirit of the modern party.
I have therefore stepped down from my role as co-ordinator of Rugby Green Party as well as the role of chair of the under 30’s branch of the midlands region of the party.
There is ambition in the Green Party definitely. But that is all there is. Ambition. I believe in democracy and the fact that the Green Party protested about the fact the Conservatives won a mandate to govern the country is simply sickening. I don’t like the Conservatives as much as the next Green Party member but I also respect the process of an election.
It is a hard place to be if you are a male. We had to re-run the ballot twice at the election hustings as no female would come forward to stand. The gender rules in the party will mean that it is near impossible for a male to lead the party. Don’t get me wrong, as a liberal feminist I believe there are requirements needed to promote gender equality but the way it works in the Greens is near anti-male as opposed to there being constructive feminist values in place. In the mean time my needs as an autistic in the party were being overlooked on a national level in the name of preventing a male to speak out.
I spoke with my former general election opponent Ed Goncalves, who I believe was an excellent candidate, and he has made me feel very welcome, along with Jerry Roodhouse. I am excited for my journey ahead and I am looking forward to picking up where I left off. There is a lot of rebuilding to do and trust to win back. Of course we got tuition fees wrong and I won’t defend that. But I remember campaigning five years ago to end income tax on the first £10k you earn and for the pupil premium, which were two Lib Dem policies now in law that I am extremely proud of. I am also looking forward to the EU referendum campaign. I believe the referendum is in the interests of British people and I am looking forward to declaring I wish to remain in Europe and taking the campaign to the streets of Rugby.
* Terry White was the PPC for Rugby for the Green party in 2015 but defected to the Lib Dems two months later
I would argue we didn’t get tuition fees wrong. The only other option was the conservative plan, which was frankly horrible.
The resulting “solution” was a compromise, which as we know satisfies no one. The error was the PR wizzes at head office not communicating the process properly. A Simple A/b comparison of what would have happened without the Lib Dem involvement should have stopped this in it’s tracks.
I am also a recent returner to the party (after being heavily involved as a campaign organiser/local council candidate) after early failures (such as this) in the coalition.
Hi Rob
Not saying that the outcome was wrong it was the way we went about it. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but we did make a promise to scrap Tuition Fees and no matter how we try to dress it up we have alienated a generation of students who trusted us to do what we said we would. We let them down as did Labour back in 1997 though they seem to have got away with it.
As I said hindsight is a wonderful thing but on reflection we should have stuck to our guns (as we did on other issues) forced the scrapping of fees which would then have highlighted the issue of just how do we fund Higher Education? We could have consulted on this and guess what/ The Students Union were in favour of a Graduation Tax. Same outcome, different response to us and we might not have lost people like yourself at the time. Good you are back, don’t let me put you off…….