Tamsin Omond and Amelia Womack

There’s no two ways about it, the last couple of years for the UK have been pretty bleak. Brexit, a deadly pandemic that’s touched us all, the IPCC report and catastrophe of the climate crisis, all against a back drop of over a decade of Tory rule and austerity; sometimes it feels as if we live in the darkness.

Being a candidate, activist, and manager of election campaigns during that time has been tough, I have felt like I’m on a rollercoaster. The highs of dramatically increasing our local authority representation through the amazing work of our campaign teams and Councillors, against the desperate lows of feeling like whatever we do, we just can’t get there fast enough to stem the tide of runaway climate change.

Enter an unexpected leadership by-election and the formidable pairing of Amelia Womack and Tamsin Omond. Fueled by warmth, kindness, and inclusivity against their own backdrop of strength and experience. A strategy that reaches far beyond our current membership, towards a broad green movement with the Green Party as the electoral force at its heart. Their collective track record speaks for itself, their complimentary skills and experience in the media, governance, fundraising, strategy, and building movements make them immensely qualified to be our next co-leaders. Qualifications are not everything though, what Amelia and Tamsin have is a spark, an infectious energy that when you are in their presence you can’t help but be inspired, and that’s what we so desperately need in our next leadership team, a flicker of light in the darkest of times.

It sometimes feels that we live in times of fear, where courage, ambition, and bravery are revolutionary acts. No more so than now, where members are presented with a choice between candidates with establishment backing and the relative safety of the green party past, or the bold, brave future where it is no longer good enough to play it safe. Never having been one to worship at the altar of prominent public facing politicians, I look for different qualities in a leader. A leadership of inclusivity, of humanity, of hope, of the resilience we all have shown, where movements are built through a shared and collectively created vision and no one is left behind.

That is why I am backing Amelia Womack and Tamsin Omond first preference in the Green Party leadership election, because Audre Lorde was right – “without community, there is no liberation.”

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