Green candidate Larry Sanders: It’s make believe to say we can’t fund the NHS Larry Sanders used to talk to his younger brother, Bernard, every other Sunday. But both have become rather busy of […]

Larry Sanders used to talk to his younger brother, Bernard, every other Sunday.

But both have become rather busy of late.

Bernard – or Bernie to most- who lost out on becoming the Democratic presidential candidate, is jetting all over the world.

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“He’s busy, astonishingly,” says Larry Sanders. “I thought he couldn’t work any harder than he did as a candidate. In fact he seems to have become the leadership of the opposition to Trump,” he says, adding the brothers are in “99 per cent agreement” on politics.

Across the pond in Britain, Sanders is running as the Green candidate in Oxford East, hoping to raise the party’s voice in Parliament.

The 82-year-old says the constituency is diverse and independent, adding that the Greens’ policies appeal to voters.

‘Bad governments

“The main thing that we’re saying is we really have had bad governments for a long time under all three major parties. We know most of the income and wealth has been going to the very rich people and we’re having drastic problems here.

“There is for instance a gap in the length of lives in north Oxford, which is the wealthier area, and large parts of Oxford East… On top of that we have a real crisis in the NHS.”

Sanders, who has lived in Oxford East for 47 years after moving from Brooklyn in the sixties, is concerned about the state of the NHS and social care.

“We think there is no problem with money.” Larry Sanders

As a former social worker and legal adviser to disability groups, he’s seen many of the problems first hand.

Only the Greens, for whom he is the health spokesperson, are pledging to fund the NHS to the extent it needs, he says. Sanders doesn’t see money as an issue, and doesn’t appear to be bogged down with the main parties’ financial buzzwords – “deficit,” “blackhole,” and “budget” – when speaking about the health service.

Money problem is make believe

“We think there is no problem with money,” says the former Oxford university lecturer.

“We know large tranches of very rich people don’t pay tax. We know that the taxes are much less progressive… and behind it all we know there’s a Government that prints billions of pounds when it wants to… but it’s gone to the banks.

“The money problem is a make believe. It’s very sad that all the parties [go] around as if we we’re a poor household. This is a very rich country, we have our own currency, we can tax what we want to, we can create the money if it’s necessary.”

‘Tories can’t win here’

Oxford East was won by a Labour MP in 2015 but Andrew Smith is not standing for re-selection this time. Sanders – who lost in the Witney by-election after former Prime Minister David Cameron stood down – believes this has boosted his chances.

“We’re basically quite decent and not racist, but under pressure bad things happen.” Larry Sanders

The Tory candidate “can’t win here” he adds.

Still, it worries Sanders “enormously” that a Tory landslide is projected for 8 June, not least because “a Government like this will finish off the NHS”.

He doesn’t think Theresa May is “as obnoxious as Trump,” but he says her policies on breaking up the NHS and leaving young people unable to afford a decent place to live are “very right wing”.

“They don’t mind lying,” Sanders adds. He hopes voters will realise “this Government is not really on my side”.

He is also concerned about a hard Brexit stoking divisions in society.

“I think what happened in Brexit, and it happened with the Trump thing, you have people who think nobody gives a damn about them.

“And people who think they’ve been left out, don’t become kind always.

“People can get very angry and that anger often reflects itself at other groups. So I think, yes, the country is in a dangerous place. We’re basically quite decent and not racist, but under pressure bad things happen.”

Red to Green

Sanders has not always been a Green. He used to support Labour, but his passion about healthcare made him switch. He saw Labour and the Lib Dem councillors side with the Tories in favour of closing important local services for disabled people.

“I couldn’t bear the thought of what was being done. And my Labour friends were voting for it, so that really impelled me out. The only person that was standing up in the social services was the Green Councillor,” says Sanders, who later became a Green Party county councillor himself.

“When you say the Labour Party, which Labour Party?”

Sanders says Corbyn has been a “huge improvement” from his Labour predecessors. But not enough to make him switch back.

“When you say the Labour Party, which Labour Party?” he asks, creating a moment of confusion, before it becomes clear that he is referring to the divisions between the left-wing direction Corbyn has taken the party, and Tony Blair’s New Labour era.

While Corbyn’s General Election manifesto contains “a lot of good things” according to Sanders, the people of Oxford East would be better off with the Green Party, which is “not caught up in this ancient battle with a really recalcitrant set of MPs”.

‘Shifty politics’

However, he does concede that Labour under Corbyn is a threat to the Greens.

“Politically it is a problem for us because you’re running against a party which can always answer you. If you say, ‘You’re not radical enough,’ they say, ‘Oh yes, look at Corbyn’. If we say ‘You’re really wasting money,’ they say, ‘Oh no, most of us are running on a responsible finance ticket’.

“So they’ve always got an answer. But I think that kind of shifty politics is part of why people are fed up.”

Similarities between Corbyn and Sanders’ brother Bernie have also been drawn.

Sanders believes both men are the result of voter frustrations, within their respected parties, over their previous leaders.

“I don’t know much about Corbyn as a person or leader, he doesn’t seem to have the impact that Bernard has had. But policy wise, there are connections.”

Corbyn has suggested Sanders’ brother Bernie could endorse Labour when he arrives in the UK before the General Election.

“I’m sure if he endorses Corbyn, he will also endorse the Greens,” says Sanders, who campaigned for his brother in the US.

Has politics ever come between the siblings?

Sanders replies lightheartedly.”It hasn’t yet.”