Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green Party Leader joins Greens in Haverfordwest for an afternoon of leafleting and talking to voters.
Frances Bryant, Preseli Pembs Candidate was there to meet her constituents. On Friday the 6th Feb, Pembrokeshire Green Party set up their stall outside one of the many closed shops in Haverfordwest. On this occasion outside the old Castle Square Chippy which now reads “Hippy”.
This did not escape Pippa Bartolotti’s notice, she said “Too many shops in Haverfordwest are closed. This once thriving market town is in desperate need of an end to austerity. The Greens would revitalize the area with a return to localisation. Support for local farmers, local shops and local energy supplies would replace the chronic problems we have with multinationals ruling our lives, taking money out of the local economy and dictating the price of milk.”
“Greens are the one UK wide political party fighting against austerity, fighting hard to increase equality, and the only political party with a serious set of strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change. Choosing the political party to take us through the very challenging times ahead has been a wake up call for voters everywhere. That’s why so very many have joined the Green surge which has seen membership in Wales quadruple in just 12 months.”
The sun was shining throughout the afternoon and over 15 members and volunteers came to support the event.
Jim Scott (Pembrokeshire Green Party Spokesperson) said; “It was an incredibly positive afternoon and we all had some very interesting conversations with voters on the street. It was the day after ‘national voter registration day’ so we adopted a light theme based around question of whether people were planning to vote in the General Election in May, we were also asking younger voters if they were actually registered to vote at all because the current Government has changed the way that many young people and students are registered to vote, meaning that up to 3 million young people in the UK are not automatically registered to vote where before they would have been. As a Green Party member who has been involved in setting up the local party here in Pembrokeshire Specifically so that people will have the opportunity to vote for Green Party Candidates here in pembs, It was very heartening to speak to so many people on the street including many young people who were actually engaged with the current political climate and were planning to vote in May because they finally feel that the apathy of the past and the days of ‘two party politics’ is over and now that parties like the Greens are growing so rapidly and gaining so much traction, that at last the time has come where people will no longer vote out of fear but feel that a vote for hope is not a wasted vote.”
Frances Bryant, Green Party candidate for Preseli Pembrokeshire said “It was very good to meet so many people who were interested in hearing about the fresh approach to issues that the Greens have. Many who I spoke to had become very disillusioned with the way that austerity had been imposed on Wales from far away Westminster. Very many brought up local issues, from worries about proposed library and school funding to benefits changes and cuts to services at Withybush Hospital. Fracking also came up in many conversations as people were scared that our beautiful landscape would end up disfigured and polluted. It was heartening to see that far from being apathetic, as we are so often told, people really do care about these issues.
Whilst Pippa Bartolotti was in Pembrokeshire she also went with Frances Bryant and other local Greens for a presentation from the very successful Pembrokeshire-based digital democracy organization ‘VocalEyes Digital Democracy’ which is currently producing some very encouraging results within many educational settings including Pembrokeshire College, Milford Secondary School, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Gower College Swansea. VocalEyes has developed an innovative digital platform where students, staff, groups and the wider public can suggest, rate and debate ideas within their organisations and communities in a way that every person’s voice is heard and popular ideas and solutions can be put into action, with feedback posted back to the users of the system. The Welsh Government's Wales We Want consultation also used VocalEyes (where it is currently in use) to involve young people in a 'Big Conversation' to help inform future legislation.
Jim scott said “Projects like VocalEyes Digital Democracy really show us where the future is going for our democracy. At present there are a wide range of factors which exclude vast sections of society from actively engaging in our democratic processes.
"If platforms like VocalEyes mean that everyone can feel empowered to get involved with decision making at all levels and really see the changed they want around them coming to fruition, then we at the Green Party are all for it. "The days of top down governments are numbered. People led politics is coming and that is exactly what we stand for in the Green Party.”
Peter Anderson, the founder of VocalEyes Digital Democracy said:"The purpose of VocalEyes Digital Democracy is to empower groups to debate, prioritise and come up with ideas; turning good ideas into actions and tangible projects. Local direct democracy is an important priority for parties like the Greens; VocalEyes can help facilitate this".
Pembrokeshire Green Party will be holding a public meeting to give the people of Pembrokeshire a chance to talk to the candidates in March and with UK membership rocketing and having recently passed the Lib-dems and Ukip, Jim Scott said “We are feeling very excited about our prospects in May”