Why I broke the law

The newsagent’s hoarding at the Precinct screamed: ‘Gypsies could be on your doorstep’. I blinked in disbelief. Then I stared at it with the eyes of a parent of one of the gypsy children at our local Primary School, who has started to trust that their child would not suffer taunts. I looked at it with the eyes of a young man who approached Congresbury Parish Council some weeks ago with his grandfather, to ask about a memorial for his dad, who had died suddenly. Their family had been ‘on our doorstep’ for generations and the funeral was one of the largest the village had known. I recalled chatting to him a few months back, as we watched a group of his friends playing at the riverside ball court. He was unable to join in because of his disability. I always admired the way he made light of it. He was one of the few to attend secondary school and he even learnt to drive a van.  Congresbury parish has the largest Roma/gypsy/traveller site in North Somerset within its boundary, one of the largest in the South West. It is a neat, well managed site privately owned by a businessman who is himself a gypsy. A community of around 200 with its rich and poor, elderly and young, have their weddings, funerals, useful employment, joys, sorrows, conflicts and occasional crime. No different from the part of the village I walk through most days to the bus stop. There have been problems over the years and we have learnt to tackle them. There are myths around, like the assumption that gypsy children are given preference in allocating school places, which is absolutely untrue. It takes time and effort to build trust on both sides. Young people from Moorland Park have recently started to use the village Youth Club. Not yet integrated with the main group, but a huge step for them to be even allowed off site, to be truly on our ‘doorstep’.

I looked at the poster again and in my mind replaced the word ‘Gypsies’ with ‘Blacks’ or ‘Jews’. Oh yes, that rang a bell. Sixteen members of my wider family were killed in the Holocaust, including my father and two of my grandparents. My mother and I survived in hiding in Budapest. It all started in the 30s with press articles and billboards scapegoating Jews. Gypsies were holocaust victims too and are targeted again by modern nazis throughout Europe. What was it Britain fought against in the war?

When I asked the newsagent to remove the offensive poster, she told me she did not wish to upset the Mercury. So I removed it and reported my theft to the police, at the same time as reporting what I believe to be a contravention of the Race Relations Act. I don’t break the law lightly. Even the smallest crime weakens the fabric of our society, which, as a councillor, I do my best to strengthen. I broke the law to draw attention to an unacceptable and damaging use of words, which broke a higher law. I am pleased to say I had strong support from many, including local councillors and the police. I am also pleased that the Mercury acted the same day to recall all their offending posters. I accept that the poster was thoughtless, rather than deliberately racist, but I want to see a culture in which such wording is unacceptable. The article in the paper had a misleading and provocative headline, but its content raised a matter for legitimate debate. It is the job of newspapers to report on controversial topics. It is not their job to fan racial prejudice.

Lobby of North Somerset Council Budget Meeting - 21st February

MEET AT 5.30 PM OUTSIDE TOWN HALL, WESTON SUPER MARE

COME ALONG AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR OUR CAMPAIGN TO DEFEND JOBS AND SERVICES

The council will be voting to approve their budget, proposals which amount to £50 million of cuts including:

• £14 million of cuts to Adult Social Services – reductions in services to the elderly, disabled and carers
• £12 million of cuts to Children & Young People’s Services – a new focus on only 300 families
• The complete removal of Youth Services in North Somerset
• Reduction in Domestic Abuse services
• Reduced opening hours for rural libraries
• 280 full-time job losses across the council

We all know that the finances are tight but the Green Party believes it is the responsibility of the Council to protect the most vulnerable. We believe the current budget proposals risk failing those most in need as well as our young people.

Green Party Councillor, Tom Leimdorfer has proposed an alternative Budget, with support from Independent colleagues, which seeks to protect the Youth Service, as well as other frontline Children’s Services and essential part of adult social care.  This can be achieved by using funding from senior management pay restructuring, parking charges (where appropriate), reducing the frequency of North Somerset Life, using all of the government’s Council Tax freeze grant. North Somerset Greens believe there are no easy choices, but that fair is worth fighting for.

Full details of the alternative budget and figures can be found on the North Somerset Green Party Webpage.  

The South West Green Party will join public sector workers in protest against ConDem attacks on pensions in the strike action on 30^th November. The changes will see public sector pensions based on an average salary as opposed to being based on a final salary, which is the current practice. The unions call the package "a long way from a position where we have offers on the table which might prove acceptable."

Unison members voted in favour of joining the ‘day of action’ with a 78% majority. Unison joins around 20 other unions in strikes around the country next Wednesday.  North Somerset Unison will be picketing North Somerset Council offices in Weston-Super-mare, Castlewood in Clevedon, Weston General Hospital, Weston Court Winterstoke Road, from 7.30 am on November 30th, then joining the march at College Green, Bristol at 11.00 am that day.  North Somerset Green Party members and members of the Bristol Anti-Cuts Alliance will also  join the march at College Green, Bristol at 11.00 am.

Caroline Lucas, MP, Leader of the Green Party stated: "This is really about piling the UK’s debt burden onto the people who did the least to create it. Teachers are being expected to pay 50% more in pension contributions, work longer and get less pension when they retire.

“I believe that fair pensions are worth fighting for, so I will be joining the picket lines in solidarity with my constituents who have been abandoned by the other main Westminster parties.”

“I regret the disruption caused by industrial action and feel confident that union leaders will only resort to the strike option in special circumstances. But if public sector employees continue to feel that the Government is not listening and the need for action remains, then the Greens will lend support and solidarity."

T

Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party recently called on disaffected Liberal Democrats to look to the Greens, saying
I have a special message for those Lib Dem supporters who are beginning to despair of the path their leadership has taken them down. If you became involved in politics to serve your local community, to protect the environment, or to challenge inequality, then join us.

The report shows when asked if voting were compulsory, 7% of those asked would vote Green, where only 6% would vote Lib Dem. The same question indicated a decrease in support for the Conservative Party, with 15% choosing Labour compared to 13% saying they would probably vote Conservative.

Contact
Emma Pruen
Press Officer, South West Green Party
07508 920583

www.emmapruen.com
@GreenEmma

The Warm Home Discount scheme gives payments of £120 to vulnerable fuel poor families; however EDF has capped the amount of families it will help to just 40,000 across the country.

British Gas has bowed to pressure from consumer champions Consumer Focus, to extend its Warm Home Discount to all customers living in fuel poverty. The South West Green Party have today asked French state-owned EDF Energy, developers of the Hinckley C Nuclear Power reactors, to do the same.

Fuel poverty is defined as any household paying more than 10% of household income on energy bills.

Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party and co chair of Parliament's Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency Group said
Householders are increasingly concerned about the rising cost involved of heating their homes. Many are turning their heating off in an attempt to stay out of debt-risking their health and wellbeing. Living in a cold, damp home can lead to extremely poor health, and can exacerbate conditions such as respiratory and coronary problems, especially in older people, young children whose immune systems have not yet fully developed, and those with long term sickness and disabilities.

Around 6.3million families nationally, are classed as fuel poor after annual energy bills have jumped by an average of £500 in the last five years. And despite record profits of £30 billion received by the big six energy suppliers in the UK over the same period, it is the consumer that is paying the heavy price for the countries incoherent, unaffordable and often misleading energy policies.

The South West is more vulnerable to fuel poverty than other areas of the country, with the highest proportion of elderly people in England; who are more susceptible to cold temperatures and less likely to afford electricity and heating bills price hikes. The South West also has the largest proportion of rural and remote areas. Lacking in funding in the past has meant that 76% of isolated dwellings in the South West are without access to gas. This figure drops to 54% in the rural South East, and to just 5% across the country's urban areas. This means many rural households rely on the more expensive oil, pushing them deeper in to the fuel poverty trap.

More than half a million low-income pensioners will receive the £120 rebate this winter automatically, but other eligible households with young families will miss out because of caps imposed by energy firms. EDF energy currently say they will only supply up to 40,000 of their customers with the rebate, even if more are eligible.

South West Green Party is putting pressure on other companies such as EDF to follow the example and offer the rebate to all ‘fuel poor' families and households and not run the scheme on a ‘first-come-first-serve' basis.
Warm home grants are available to a variety of low income groups. To check eligibility consumers need to get in touch with their energy supplier. The Green Party also recommend checking to see if money can be saved by switching suppliers. They can compare gas and electricity prices at energyhelpline.com or by calling 0800 074 074.

Contact
Emma Pruen
Press Officer, South West Green Party
07508 920583
emmapruen@gmail.com

Notes
[1] Consumerfocus.org - A ‘now cast' of Fuel Poverty in 2010 by the Centre for Sustainable Energy

Support for the total 5 Green Party candidates was encouraging, particularly in Banwell and Winscombe ward, where the Green candidate Cresten Boase came 4th out of 9 candidates, the 3 sitting Conservatives being re-elected.  In Wraxall and Long Ashton ward Stuart McQuillan came 6th out of 8 candidates, ahead of both Labour candidate, and in Weston Central Liz Roberts came 6th out of 7 candidates, splitting Labour.

GreenTalk 2011 is bringing together eleven of the UK's leading thinkers and doers on climate change, energy security and the natural world, to give short talks (of five to twelve minutes) on the solutions and responses to these issues.

Speakers include Arthur Potts Dawson - The People's Supermarket, ‘Listening to food', Richard Dunne - Head Teacher, Ashley Primary School, ‘Lessons from antarctica', Hannah Smith - Climate Outreach and Information Network, ‘Do ‘Climate Refugees' exist? Dispelling some key myths around climate change and migration', Adrian Campbell - Low2No, ‘Sustainability: reality bites', Dr Tim Chatterton - UWE, Bristol, ‘Changing behaviour: changing society', Alice Ferguson and Amy Rose - Playing Out, ‘Reclaiming streets for play', Dawn Keyse, Lancaster Co Housing, - ‘Co-housing, - a way to zero carbon', John Gapper, Brighton and Hove District Council, ‘The Secret Gardener - creating urban wild spaces'.

Please look for the small Green picture (see left) on the table, and come up and say hello.  We might be outside in the beer garden if it's a warm evening.  The Railway Inn serves good, reasonably priced food as well as real ales and Thatchers cider, so even if you don't want to drink alcohol, you can pop by for a soft drink and/or something good to eat.

Future Green Drinks are planned for pubs in Long Ashton and Weston, so watch this space.