General Elections 4 July 2024
Coventry Green Party congratulate our four new Green Party Members of Parliament!
We stood a Green candidate for each of the Coventry constituencies in the General Election on 4 July 2024.
The local party is celebrating 8,513 green votes across the city. The percentages of the votes means we will benefit from the return of our deposits for all 3 constituencies. Thank you!
(left-to-right) Stephen Gray, Esther Reeves and Anne Patterson
What the Green Party stands for
We can create a greener, fairer country together – one in which we are all safer, happier and more fulfilled.
It will take MPs prepared to make brave, principled choices on your behalf.
And it will take the kinds of policies set out in this manifesto, for which elected Green MPs will fight hard every single day for you.
Green Party Manifesto
Coventry North West - Esther Reeves
Cllr Esther Reeves was the Green Party candidate for the Coventry North West constituency in the July 2024 General Election.
She came 4th with 3,420 votes (8.1%).
Esther has been working hard in Coventry as a Green Party local councillor for the people of Holbrooks. She will fight for all our children to get good education especially those with Special Educational Needs, to keep green spaces around the city, and for a fairer future for all of us.
Esther says,
"As a passionate educator, I believe our current school system is too often not working for both children and teachers. As a Green Member of Parliament, I would push for our schools to be better funded and have a more flexible, child-centered way of teaching. This is especially important for children with Special Educational needs, like mental health, who currently do not have the necessary support.
"The cost of living is on all our minds, so I would push for Universal Basic Income, a system where everyone has enough to live on, with extra support for people with disabilities. In the meantime we urgently need to increase the Minimum Wage and Universal Income payments to ensure everyone has enough to live on. The Green Party MPs would also reform how disability benefits are awarded, so the system supports those most in need.
"As a Green Party MP, I would champion ways to make sure everyone has a warm, safe, affordable place to live. In Coventry we have a high level of rented accommodation often with high heating bills, so I would push the Government to require all landlords to insulate the homes they own making them cheaper to heat, and I would push for all new homes to be built to a high level of energy efficiency, so that we do not need to retrofit even more housing stock in the future.
"While we need new homes, we also need green spaces and these are just as important within cities as they are in the countryside. We need to protect both the spaces we have and also make sure they have as much biodiversity as possible. Nature is important for the health of both the planet and ourselves, lack of green spaces is shown to have a negative effect on our mental health. Therefore we must find more inventive ways of incorporating more nature into our built environment, for instance tree-lined streets are cooler in the summer than those without trees, and limiting hard-standing can help deal with rainfall and flooding.”
The Green Party parliamentary candidate, Stephen Gray, for the Coventry North-West constituency in the December 2019 General Election received 1,443 votes.
Esther can be contacted on esther.reeves@coventry.gov.uk
Coventry South - Anne Patterson
Anne Patterson was Green Party candidate for the Coventry South constituency in this July 2024 Parliamentary Election. Anne received 2,363 votes (5.5%) and came in 5th.
Anne has lived in Coventry for much of her life, and is an NHS worker. As a passionate Green campaigner, she has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the effect of the climate crisis on our local environment like our rivers.
Anne says,
"I have lived in Earlsdon in Coventry for over 30 years. I studied Occupational Therapy at Coventry University and have worked in the NHS since qualifying. As an NHS worker, I am very aware of the challenges facing health and social care, so I strongly support the Green Party commitment to defend the NHS, and would make sure everyone has access to free healthcare when and where they need it.
"I am aware of the impact of the cost of living crisis on local residents, so as a Green Member of Parliament, I would call for actions such as increasing the minimum wage, increasing universal credit, protecting renters and building more affordable homes.
"I am very concerned regarding the state of our rivers including here in Coventry, as a Green Party MP I would push for water companies to be brought back into public ownership, to stop the harm being caused to our rivers and coastlines.
"The climate emergency and biodiversity loss are having increasingly severe impacts here in the UK and across the world, but the other political parties are not committing to act to address the causes and impacts of this climate emergency and resulting loss of biodiversity. As a Green MP I would push for the bold action needed to protect our precious planet and everyone who calls it their home."
Our Green Party parliamentary candidate for the Coventry South constituency on 12 December 2019, Becky Finlayson, received 1,092 votes.
Anne Patterson can be contacted on info@coventry.greenparty.org.uk
Coventry East - Stephen Gray
Cllr Stephen Gray was selected as the Green Party candidate for Coventry East constituency this July Election. He came 4th with 2,730 votes (7.4%).
Stephen is serving as a Green Party Councillor in the Holbrooks ward of Coventry. He came to Coventry as a student, and loves this city. He is passionate about energy efficiency, and reducing energy bills.
Stephen says,
"I have lived in Coventry since 1996, joined the Green Party in 2008, and have been involved in a wide variety of community activities, from debt counselling to Coventry Motofest.
I am particularly keen to improve road safety, deal with litter and flytipping, and ensure that we build new housing on brownfield sites before we even consider building on our Greenbelt."
Matthew Handley was the Green Party parliamentary candidate for the Coventry North-East constituency in December 2019 receiving 1,141 votes, while Stephen as the Coventry North-West candidate in that election received 1,443 votes.
Stephen Gray can be contacted on: stephen.gray@coventry.gov.uk
Promoted by Stephen Gray on behalf of Stephen Gray, Esther Reeves and Anne Patterson (Green Party), all of 42 Holland Road, Coventry CV6 1JA.
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