Amelia Womack and Piers Morgan
YouTube screen grab

Amelia Womack 1, Piers Morgan 0

After last week‘s furore over Caroline Lucas’ proposals on taxing meat, Green Party of England and Wales Deputy Leader Amelia Womack went head to head with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain to debate the issue. Womack scored the best blow in the pugnacious back and forth, when she said that Morgan had his “knickers in a twist over a small sausage”.

You can watch the full exchange here:

Patrick Harvie holds Nicola Sturgeon to account over council cuts with powerful speech

Scottish Green Party Co-Convener Patrick Harvie this week held the Scottish Government to account over the impact of cuts. In a powerful speech at First Ministers Questions, he told the story of Ryan – an autistic child whose education is in jeopardy due to cuts to Additional Support Needs teachers. The speech showed the shocking situation facing some schools and the provision for disabled children.

Patrick Harvie’s speech can be watched in full here:

Green Party of England and Wales release Verita report into the David Challenor scandal

The long awaited report into the David Challenor scandal was published this week. The report made two crucial recommendations on changes that should be made to Green Party of England and Wales processes. It recommended:

  • The Green Party’s code of conduct should, as a matter of urgency, be made clearer about what members should report. In particular it should emphasise the importance of raising issues that give rise to safeguarding concerns.
  • The Green Party should urgently review its safeguarding policy and procedures to strengthen its approach to raising awareness and improving processes for reporting safeguarding concerns and risks to people outside the party.

Campaigning kicks off for the selection of Green London Mayoral and Assembly list candidates

Things are hotting up in the race to be selected as the Green Party candidates for the 2020 London Mayoral and London Assembly elections. Over a dozen candidates are thought to be battling it out to get the Party’s endorsement. A full list of candidates will be announced on 14 January.

Bright Green has been covering the selection process. You can find all our coverage here.

Green parliamentarians take aim at the far right

This week saw far-right campaigners abusing prominent political figures, including Owen Jones and Anna Soubry. This is but the latest in a long list of examples of an emboldened far-right taking their views into the public and onto the streets in recent months.

Green parliamentarians have been at the fore of responding to the far-right’s growing confidence this week. Green MEP Molly Scott Cato penned an article for the Independent condemning “creeping fascism” and the increased far-right propaganda. And Patrick Harvie called for a policy of no-platform for fascists after posters for the far right group Generation Identity Scotland were placed around two universities in Glasgow.

Caroline Lucas hits out at the failures of the 2016 Remain campaign

Caroline Lucas
Creative Commons: GPEW

Green MP Caroline Lucas condemned the Remain campaign in the 2016 EU referendum campaign this week. She accused the campaign of “moral failure” for its decision not to defend freedom of movement during the referendum.

Laying out a pitch for a revitalised pro-EU movement in 2019, she argued for remainers to abandon “vapid centrism that has failed to deliver for so many people.”

Scottish Greens celebrate their work improving social security

The Scottish Green Party released a video highlighting their work to improve social security in Scotland. These improvements include:

  • Removing hated punitive sanctions from Scottish employment programmes
  • Securing a ban on unnecessary assessments for disability benefits
  • Putting £9.3 million into the pockets of people in Scotland
  • Delivering a £300 a year support package for young carers

Convener of Brighton & Hove Green Councillors slams Labour’s record on waste collection

The words “bins” and “Brighton & Hove Green Party” have not always been comfortable bedfellows. But this week, Phelim Mac Cafferty, convener of the Brighton & Hove Green council group has launched a scathing attack on the Labour run council’s record on waste management. Mac Cafferty condemned the council for missed collections and called for its PFI contract to be renegotiated.

Debate continues on impact of Holistic Review

The controversial internal reforms to the Green Party of England and Wales that were passed last week continue to trigger debate. This week, Kirsty Jones, a member of the Holistic Review Commission which devised the reforms heavily criticised them. Jones argued the changes constituted a “loss of democracy”.