Matthew Snedker with Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer

The Green Party of England and Wales has selected Matthew Snedker as its candidate for the Darlington parliamentary constituency at the next general election.

Snedker is currently a councillor in Darlington and helped found the local Green Party in 2014.

In the 2023 local elections, the Green Party increased its representation on Darlington Borough Council. There are now seven Green councillors in the town, and the party picked up 18 per cent of the vote.

Commenting on his selection, Councillor Snedker said:  “We’re facing a double crisis in our country, for our climate and for our democracy, but the Greens have the ideas and the political energy to push for progressive solutions. I’m both hopeful and proud to have been chosen to fight this election for the Green Party. We speak with one voice in saying ‘Yes’ to fairness and ‘No’ to climate chaos.”

In 2019, Snedker secured cross-party support for a declaration of a climate emergency by the borough council which was updated and strengthened with unanimous support in 2023. As the chair of the Climate Change Working Group he has pushed for significant changes, including highlighting the benefits of affordable and accessible bus services and promoting the repairing and recycling of items at the monthly Darlington Fix-It café.

Snedker also said that there is a need to bring ‘green jobs’ to Darlington. He said:  “I am focussed on bringing green jobs to Darlington to give our young people a reason to stay and businesses reasons to move here. There are well paid and secure jobs to be had in delivering a fairer and greener economy, we must ensure that training for these jobs is available in Darlington.

“Other countries are seeing massive investment programmes to green their economies. As your MP I would challenge the Chancellor to dig deep to accelerate the green transition, and invest in Darlington. Support must also be available for households to cut their fuel bills. We should be helping fund energy saving measures and the switch to heat pumps that will reassure people that they will not have to foot the bill on their own.”

He then accused both he Tories and Labour of having failed to deliver for Darlington and the north east of England. He said: “The Conservative government has failed Darlington and the north-east, boasting of diverting government spending to the south while the NHS, schools and bus services crumble around us. Meanwhile, the Labour party, under Sir Keir Starmer, has focused on abandoning their principles and U-turning on their pledges. Voters trust neither of the big parties and find they agree with the honesty and integrity of Green Party policies.”

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