The Green Party in the South West today launched their European election campaign [1]. The Party will push for the re-election of Molly Scott Cato, who has a strong track record of achievement in the European parliament and is a leading and well-respected voice of opposition to Brexit both within the South West region and nationally.

Molly, who has been Green MEP for the region since 2014 and is Green Party Brexit spokesperson, tops a list of six high profile candidates [2] selected by party members. The second candidate on the list is the out-going Bristol Lord Mayor, Cleo Lake, a champion of diversity, inclusion and cohesion who made headlines for removing pictures from her office which celebrated Bristol’s role in the slave trade [3].

Molly has been highly critical of the government’s approach to Brexit. She took the government to court over their refusal to release economic impact studies on Brexit [4] and has sought to expose the individuals and organisations that pushed the Leave campaign [5]. She has consistently cautioned of the impacts of Brexit on manufacturing industry – warning that companies like Honda would quit the UK; raised concerns about the impacts of leaving the single market on farmers and has pursued the government over its failure to agree how to replace EU funds that support Cornwall [6].

Molly Scott Cato said:

“The Green Party welcomes these elections and we stand ready to contest them. People know that our message on Brexit has always been clear and consistent: we led calls for a referendum on the final deal and have long supported a People’s Vote.

“Given the impasse in parliament, it is essential that we give the people a final say on the decision to leave the EU. It is a democratic necessity to check that Brexit is still what they think is best for the country. Polls consistently indicate that a majority in the South West now favour the UK remaining in the EU, so this must be an option in any further referendum.”

In the European parliament, Molly Scott Cato’s work has included developing measures to clamp down on tax avoidance and legislating on financing the green economy. She and other candidates on the Green list have also been at the forefront of efforts to tackle our ‘climate emergency.’ She said:

“I hope my strong track record will encourage people to re-elect me to rejoin the influential Green Group in the European Parliament. We have achieved policies that deliver social and environmental justice including rules to combat tax avoidance, banning toxic pesticides that threaten our wildlife and legislation on financing the transition to a green economy, where I led the Parliament’s work.

“I am proud of the fact that it was Green councillor Carla Denyer, third on our European candidate list, who successfully steered a Climate Emergency motion through Bristol City Council; 70 councils across the UK have since passed similar motions. As Greens, we embrace the growing movement of people willing to take action in defence of the climate, not least young people and school children.”

Molly Scott Cato concluded:

“Let’s use these democratic and proportional elections to mobilise one of the strongest pro-EU movements anywhere on the European continent and champion a fairer, greener, more democratic EU.”

ENDS

Notes

See: OUR EUROPEAN PRIORITIES - WHAT WE GREENS FIGHT FOR: https://vote.europeangreens.eu/priorities

[1] See attached photo. Credit: @JonCraig_Photos

[2] The South West has six MEPs, so the Green Party has six candidates who have been selected by Green Party members in a secret ballot. They would take up seats in this order:

1. Molly Scott Cato – Green MEP for the South West since 2014 and spokesperson on Brexit for the Green Party of England and Wales 2. Cleo Lake: the outgoing Bristol Lord mayor, a passionate advocate for embracing diversity, inclusion and cohesion, who has actively challenged the celebration of the city’s slave traders and campaigned for the Windrush Generation and others. 3. Carla Denyer: a Bristol Green Party councillor and former renewable energy engineer who helped kick-start the Climate Emergency movement in the UK. 4. Tom Scott: Falmouth-based writer, editor and university lecturer who co-wrote the hugely successful websites Bad Boys of Brexit and The Brexit Syndicate which exposed the truth about the people and organisations that manipulated the Brexit vote. 5. Martin Dimery: First elected Green Party councillor to Somerset County Council, formerly a teacher and currently a director, writer and performer. 6. Karen La Borde: Based in Truro, she has coordinated a network of climate activists working with local communities to confront our climate emergency and take action to reduce carbon emissions.

[3] https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristols-lord-mayor-replaces-painting-2287499

[4] https://mollymep.org.uk/?s=impact+studies

[5] See: Bad Boys of Brexit website and The Brexit syndicate website. Also the Face down Facebook report. Tom Scott, fourth on the Green list, researched and wrote much of the content of these.

[6] https://mollymep.org.uk/?s=Cornwall

[7] Volunteer and/or donate to the campaign at https://forms.gle/1kBccN8urkhrMrR77

Contact: Andrew Bell 07410 441182

https://forms.gle/1kBccN8urkhrMrR77