By Julian Whittle

Last updated at 13:11, Wednesday, 01 October 2008

The Green Party has set up a North Cumbrian branch and is aiming to become a serious force in local politics.

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Former Carlisle city councillor John Reardon, who quit Labour earlier this year, will be one of its candidates.

The Greens intend to stand for Cumbria County Council next year, Carlisle City Council in 2010 and Eden Council the year after.

Mr Reardon said the Greens were the only party committed to tackling climate change.

He added: “The environment isn’t the only issue.

“The Greens are defending civil liberties, the public sector and social justice issues that the three main parties have abandoned.”

Mr Reardon stood down as a Labour councillor for Upperby in May. He had clashed with his party nationally over the Iraq war and identity cards, and locally over its support for developing Carlisle Airport.

The North Cumbrian Green Party held its first meeting last week. Alan Marsden was elected chairman, Mr Reardon as secretary, and Friends of the Earth activist Hazel Bowmaker as treasurer.

The Greens also hope to make a breakthrough at the European elections in June.

The party is fielding eight candidates in the north west including Cumbria-based Jill Perry and Geoff Smith.

But only its top-of-the-slate candidate, Peter Cranie, has a realistic chance of getting elected. Mr Cranie, 36, made a familiarisation visit to Carlisle yesterday.

He said: “A Green MEP is worth 10 of the others. We really deliver for the people we represent.

“Open Europe recently conducted a survey on parliamentary transparency on expenses and pay. The Green Party scored highest, with 100 per cent for transparency.”

Mr Cranie said the Greens supported affordable housing, renewable energy and measures to improve home insulation, and would renationalise bus and rail services.

The party was also offering a “new deal” on jobs to boost local manufacturing and farming and reduce reliance on the service sector.

He said: “A lot of jobs created in the last 20 years have been in retail and services.

“These aren’t real jobs. They’re based on buy more and more and import more.

“We need to get back to sourcing as much as we can locally.

“If you buy cheese in Carlisle, it should be from Cumbria not shipped in from northern Europe.”

The Greens already have two British MEPs who form part of a 43-strong Green group in the European Parliament.

The party has 130 councillors, two MSPs, two members in the London Assembly and one in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

JWhittle@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 11:51, Wednesday, 01 October 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk