Cornwall Green Party has reacted strongly to reports that it might support a Tory administration on Cornwall Council.
“These reports are based on a serious misinterpretation of what I said in an interview with Cornwall Reports,” said the party’s co-coordinator Karen La Borde.
“We are not running in this election with the aim of supporting the Tories or any other party. My point was that we were prepared to work constructively with other parties to get movement in areas where we can agree on action that is urgently needed.
“This would be on a case-by-case basis, and Greens reserve judgment on which policies of any future Council administration we would be prepared to support. But in all cases this would be based on three primary issues: commitment to serious action on the climate and ecological emergency, commitment to ensuring greater democratic accountability for Cornwall Council, and commitment to the wellbeing of people in Cornwall.
“We will listen to all parties. However, we’ve had eight years of LibDem/Independent administration which has taken power away from democratically elected councillors and given it to unelected council officers.
“At the same time, the Conservative party record on both climate action and democratic reform is extremely poor, and needless to say we also strongly disagree with Tory policy on social issues.
“We are realistic in recognising that, although we have an excellent chance of getting Green councillors elected, the Green Party is not going to form the next Council administration. But having Greens on the Council will, we believe, help to hold councillors of other parties to account and pressure them to act more responsibly across a range of policy areas. That said, we would need to see a major change in approach by both Lib Dems and Tories in order to work constructively with councillors of either of these parties.
“We invite people to look at our local manifesto to see the clear and radical policies on which we are running.”
NOTES FOR EDITORS
- 70 candidates are standing for the Green Party in Cornwall on 6 May, many of whom are already parish and town councillors. Details of these candidates can be seen on the interactive map here:
https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/candidates-2021/ - Cornwall Green Party’s full manifesto is online here: https://cornwall.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto-2021
CONTACTS
Tom Scott, Cornwall Green Party Media Officer
tmscott@btconnect.com
07971 464173
Karen La Borde, Green Party candidate for Threemilestone and Chacewater
karenlaborde@aol.co.uk
07734 055306