The Wales Green Party has just announced that Peter Varley will be the Green Candidate for Islwyn in the 2015 General Election.
Peter Varley went to school in Bettws when his family moved to Newport in 1971. He worked as a software engineer for several years, and then studied as a mature student at Cardiff University, gaining a Masters degree in Energy and a PhD in Computer Science.
Peter Varley said, “I believe that respect for nature and its diversity is essential. We are part of the natural world, and, as we harm it, so we harm ourselves. We cannot treat environmental protection as an optional extra to be added on to other political systems. It must be built in from the start.
“I also believe in social justice. We must ensure that everyone can afford nutritious food to eat, clean water to drink, and a home to live in. In the UK, we can achieve this with a Universal Basic Income, something I have campaigned for since 1981, and I am delighted that this idea is now gaining public support.”
In the 2003 Assembly Election, Peter was the Green Party's lead candidate for South-East Wales, and in the 2005 General Election he stood as a candidate for Newport West. At that time he was active locally on the coordinating committee of One World Week and in the Stop the War Coalition - non-political groups which support the Green principles of sustainability, egalitarianism, radical democracy, social justice and non-violence.
After working abroad for seven years in Japan and Spain, Peter Varley returned to Wales. He added, “Essential infrastructure should be in public ownership. The NHS must not be privatised, and the water and energy companies and railways must be renationalised.
“But we must never forget that the most essential infrastructure of all is the world we all live on. Our lives depend on the natural world, and we must do all that we can to protect it.”
Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green Party leader, who lives in Newport said, “This is the first time everyone in Gwent will have a Green candidate to vote for. It is essential that the alternative argument for freedom from austerity, for the preservation of the planet and the future of our children is put forward at every opportunity.
“Peter is a long standing member of the Wales Green Party, and I know he will champion the Green values of freedom and dignity with intelligence and integrity – for the common good.” The Wales Green Party will be issuing a costed manifesto for the General Election.