Tom Pashby

Tom Pashby is running for the deputy leadership of the Green Party of England and Wales, Bright Green can reveal. Pashby announced their bid for the deputy leadership by arguing the party needed to “claim the Left ground” in British politics.

Pashby is an activist and writer, who currently works for a European climate organisation. Their background is in communications, with a previous stint on the Green Party Executive as internal communications coordinator. Pashby has also served on the Young Greens executive committee, and stood for the Greens in both the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

In announcing their bid for the deputy leadership, Pashby joins three other contenders in the race – current deputy leader Amelia Womack, former Lord Mayor of Bristol Cleo Lake and London Green Party member Nick Humberstone.

Speaking to Bright Green on their candidacy, Pashby said the Green Party needed “fresh leadership” and should be at the forefront of advocating LGBTIQA+ rights. They also argued that the party should occupy the political ground left vacant by the Labour Party as it drifts to the right under Keir Starmer’s leadership. They said:

I’m thrilled to announce I’m running for deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales.

Our party needs fresh leadership to reinvigorate the Green movement, claim the Left ground vacated by Labour under Keir Starmer, loudly support the rights of LGBTIQA+ people and achieve a green recovery.

They continued by saying that the party’s aim should be to put Greens into government. Pashby told Bright Green:

Scientists are saying the climate crisis and sixth mass extinction may be making pandemics more likely. The climate emergency will lead to more disastrous events both here in the UK and on a global scale. As Greens, we need to be more ambitious about asking voters in every constituency to vote for us. We should aim to deliver Greens in government in order to deliver a socially, economically and environmentally just society.

The current rules for the Green Party’s leadership elections require an element of gender balancing. This means that candidates who stand together to be co-leaders must be of different genders. They also require that if a single leader is elected to the leadership, two deputy leaders can be elected, but that these must also be of different genders. Pashby hit out at these rules when announcing, saying they “effectively limit” the number of women and non-binary people in leadership positions.

Nominations for the Green Party’s next leadership team close at 12:00pm on June 30. Members will be voting throughout August.

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