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Bristol West is on course to elect a Green MP for the first time! The latest poll published at the weekend shows that the Liberal Democrat vote in Bristol West is collapsing into a distant third place, and the Conservatives never had any chance here anyway. So now the General Election in Bristol West is between the Green Party and the Labour Party. It is going to be close, so if you want a Green MP every single vote for the Green Party really will count!
The Green Party will never support a Conservative government or a Conservative-led Coalition. All the polls continue to point to a hung parliament at Westminster, with no party having an overall majority. The latest predictions are that the Labour Party will be the largest party in parliament after the General Election and so will be likely to form a government. But in order to do so, they will need the support of other parties, including the Green Party. If Bristol West can send another Green MP to Westminster, the Green Party will have a strong voice if as expected there is a Labour minority administration.
The Green Party will not enter into a formal coalition with the Labour Party, but we will give our support to them on an issue by issue basis on the many areas where we agree. So for example, if the Labour Party promotes legislation to protect the NHS, we will support them, whilst at the same time pushing them to go further and stop all privatisation of the NHS (which their current policy does not do); if they decide to bring part of the railways back into public ownership (Labour’s policy is unclear on this) we will support them but push them further to bring the railways back into full public ownership; but if they continue to support fracking or TTIP we will not support them. In this way we will exert pressure on the Labour Party to adopt a stronger social and environmental agenda, particularly on climate change.
On May 7th, Bristol West will have either a Green MP or a Labour one, so either way Bristol West will have an anti-Tory MP. Therefore there is no danger of this not happening if you vote Green. But if you support a more radical approach to politics in Bristol and Westminster, voting Green will put pressure on the Labour party to do so too.
Still unsure how to vote? Well, if you want the Green Party to win, Bristol Greens are pushing at the door of parliament in Westminster, so vote Green! If you don’t want Labour to win, vote Green! If you want a radical voice for social and environmental policies in parliament, Vote Green this Thursday 7th May!