Greens Announce Line Up to Contest Local Constituencies

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Housing, air quality and the NHS are their campaign priorities

l-r: Lois Davis, Ben Fletcher, Esther Obiri-Darko

The Wandsworth Green party have selected their candidates to contest the local seats in the General Election at a meeting this Thursday night (27 April).

Following a hustings meeting in Battersea, they chose the three candidates to stand for the party in the constituencies of Battersea, Putney and Tooting on 8 June 2017:

• Lois Davis is the candidate for Battersea;
• Ben Fletcher is the candidate for Putney;
• Esther Obiri-Darko is the candidate for Tooting.

They say they will campaign against a hard Brexit, for action to tackle climate change, for decent homes, for a public NHS, for free, quality education, for a fair economy and for better transport.

“Here in Battersea we have the scandalous 9 Elms development; multi-million pound flats that are nothing more than safety deposit boxes in the sky,” said Lois Davis. “What matters for us is pushing for housing policies that mean building homes for people not profit and making renting a secure and viable option for all those on low and variable incomes who daren’t even dream of home ownership.”

She will be contesting the seat currently held by Jane Ellison for the Conservatives.

General Election 2015: Battersea
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
Conservative	Jane Ellison	26,730	52.4	+5.0
Labour	Will Martindale	18,792	36.8	+1.7
Liberal Democrat	Luke Taylor	2,241	4.4	-10.3
Green	Joe Stuart	1,682	3.3	+2.2
UKIP	Christopher Howe	1,586	3.1	+2.1
Majority			7,938	15.6	+3.4
Turnout			51,031	67.0	+1.3
Conservative hold		Swing	+1.6

“As a Putney resident I am well aware of, and very concerned about, the impact toxic air has on our health and quality of life,” said Ben Fletcher. “I will campaign for strong and rigorous action to tackle air pollution and ensure the government step up to their responsibilities to protect public health.”

He will be up against Education Secretary Justine Greening who holds the Putney seat for the Conservatives with a large majority. However, voters in the constituency were in favour of remaining in the EU by a significant margin.

General Election 2015: Putney
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
Conservative	Justine Greening	23,018	53.8	+0.8
Labour	Sheila Boswell	12,838	30.0	+2.6
Liberal Democrat	Andrew Hallett	2,717	6.3	−10.6
Green	Christopher Poole	2,067	4.8	+3.4
UKIP	Patricia Ward	1,989	4.6	+3.5
Animal Welfare	Guy Dessoy	184	0.4	N/A
Majority			10,180	23.8	-0.8
Turnout			42,813	67.0	+2.6
Conservative hold		Swing	-0.9

“St George’s in Tooting is seeing millions of pounds of healthcare funding spent on private companies instead of nurses and doctors,” said Esther Obiri-Darko. “The Green Party will take the profit motive out of healthcare and restore a public NHS that will last for generations to come.”

She will be contesting the Tooting constituency currently held by Dr Rosena Allin-Khan. The Conservatives have announced that Dan Watkins is to stand for them for the third time. He is an entrepreneur, who runs his own legal technology business. He is due to be formally confirmed on 3 May but will be unopposed at the reselection meeting and has already begun to campaign.

By-election 2016: Tooting
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
Labour	Rosena Allin-Khan	17,894	55.9	+8.7
Conservative	Dan Watkins	11,537	36.1	−5.8
Green	Esther Obiri-Darko	830	2.6	−1.5
Liberal Democrat	Alex Glassbrook	820	2.6	−1.3
UKIP	Elizabeth Jones	507	1.6	−1.3
Christian Peoples	Des Coke	164	0.5	+0.5
Monster Raving Loony	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	54	0.2	+0.2
Independent	Zirwa Javaid	30	0.1	+0.1
One Love	Ankit Love	32	0.1	+0.1
Immigrants Political Party	Akbar Ali Malik	44	0.1	+0.1
English Democrat	Graham Moore	50	0.2	+0.2
Independent	Zia Samadani	23	0.1	+0.1
Independent	Smiley Smillie	5	0.0	+0.0
Give Me Back Elmo	Bobby Smith	9	0.0	+0.0
Majority			6,357	19.9	+14.6
Turnout			31,763	42.5	−27.2
Labour hold		Swing	+7.3

The Liberal Democrats have also announced a full slate of candidates for constituencies which means that the hopes of those proposing a 'progressive alliance' in the area with anti-Brexit parties cooperating to maximise the chances of a single candidate have been dashed.

At the time of writing candidates from other parties including Labour in Putney and Battersea have yet to be announced.

April 28, 2017