GPEx elections candidates Florence Pollock and Mat Browne

There are just eight days until nominations for the Green Party of England and Wales’ executive (GPEx) elections close. And today the first people have come forward to announce their candidacy for the position of management coordinator. Florence Pollock and Matt Browne have announced they’re standing for the role as a job-share. The management coordinator is responsible for steering the Green Party on issues of governance and human resources (HR).

Both Pollock and Browne have been active in the party since 2016. Pollock has served on a range of internal bodies – including as deputy chair of the party’s disciplinary committee, co-chair of the Young Greens senate, and a member of the London Young Greens committee. She’s also been working in HR for three years, including with a major international charity. Browne is a former Green Party staff member, serving as the party’s policy and governance manager in which he helped on drafting the 2019 General Election manifesto and served as secretary to GPEx.

The pair have launched a website detailing their platform for the election. This includes commitments to provide paid internships for young people of colour, enabling more opportunities for Green Party staff to work from home in order to encourage more applicants from outside London, and to make the party’s HR practices a “model” on workers’ and trade union rights. They have also stated they intend to be driven in the role by values of “professionalism”, “inclusivity”, and “prudence”.

Speaking on their candidacy, Pollock told Bright Green:

The Green Party needs to get a lot better at reflecting modern UK society. As management coordinator, Matt and I would love to support the party to be a more forward thinking and inclusive employer, which will in turn support the party’s aim to push forward environmental justice. I’m excited to be working with Matt on this, as our combination of related professional and party activism means we have a wealth of experience to enable us to deliver for members’

Browne joined Pollock in emphasising his desire to make the party’s HR policies more inclusive, telling Bright Green:

There is real potential for the Green Party to be a beacon of HR best practice – where we lead, other organisations will follow. Florence and I are excited about developing policies and practices that will lead the field for inclusivity and workers’ rights, as well as making the Party more effective. A vote for us is a vote for professionalism in the Management Coordinator role, and for compassionate and inclusive values to inform all GPEx decision making.

To date, Pollock and Browne are the only candidates for the management coordinator role. However, a raft of other people have come forward for other positions on the executive, including the leadership and deputy leadership roles.

At the time of publishing, the full list of candidates are as follows:

  • Leader or co-leaders – Jonathan Bartley & Sian Berry
  • Deputy Leader – Nick Humberstone; Amelia Womack
  • Chair – Benjamin Smith & Ashley Routh; Ewan Jones
  • Campaigns Co-ordinator – Daniel Laycock
  • Elections Co-ordinator – Kai Taylor & Claire Stephenson; Joe Levy & Laure Needham
  • External Communications Co-ordinator – No candidates yet declared
  • Management Co-ordinator – Florence Pollock & Matt Browne
  • International Co-ordinator – Sam Murray & Alice Hubbard; Alex Horn & Erwin Schaefer
  • Policy Development Co-ordinator – No candidates yet declared
  • Publications Co-ordinator – Danny Keeling
  • Trade Union Liaison Officer – Paul Valentine & Matthew Hull; Kefentse Dennis

Nominations close for the GPEx elections close on June 30. Members will be balloted throughout August.

PS. We hope you enjoyed this article. Bright Green has got big plans for the future to publish many more articles like this. You can help make that happen. Please donate to Bright Green now.