Friday 29th January was the last and certainly not least (if you will forgive the cliche) visit by a prospective parliamentary candidate in Brighton Pavilion to BHHS. Around 50 13-18 year olds were present to hear what Ms Lucas, the PPC for the Green Party in Brighton Pavilion had to say.
Caroline Lucas begun by telling us one of the reasons she wants to become an MP, “to become part of the centre, part of the debate”.
She also told us why we should vote Green come the next election. The Green Party is well known for its environmental work, for keeping the pressure on the UK to reach the emissions targets that were set by the government and because of its wide range of social policies including proposals to reform the electoral system- get rid of the First Past the Post system and adopt a more Proportionally Representative system but not the one that Gordon Brown is proposing!
Ms Lucas said that there should be recall votes in the UK and a clean up and reform of the current system.
Caroline Lucas said that a Green voice is an independent voice and “will shake up the political system”. She said it is shocking that there are more women in the Parliaments of Rwanda and Afghanistan than our own. There needs to be a different approach to women and more women in Parliament.
Ms Lucas called for a “more robust debate” on income inequality and the need to narrow the gap between the highest and the lowest income earners (the gap is the largest it’s been since the end of WWII!). She said the tax system needs to be re-shaped so that the rich pay more; one option she said would be to have a formula (as there is in some countries) whereby the highest income earner in a business/organisation earners no more than say 10x what the lowest income earners receives; which would mean if they want to increase their pay they also have to increase other peoples as well.
Caroline Lucas says she opposes public spending cuts and believes it’s important to keep spending-particularly in a recession. She also called for nationalisation of the Post Offices and to keep the NHS free.
When I questioned her about how to further women’s equality and how she would ensure the safety and security of young women and girls if elected she said she believes there is a need for all women shortlists and that she believes positive discrimination is a way to counter act the huge disparities between men and women that exist in the UK. She called for a system, such as the one in Norway whereby at least 40% of the directors of companies must be women.
Ms Lucas said there needs to be more policeman on the streets in order to make young girls feel safer and said it is wonderful that there are now tailor made services for women, such as the newly opened Rape Crisis Centre in Brighton.
I also questioned her about her views on ‘Votes at 16′. Caroline Lucas said she is in favour of votes at 16. She said it is not right that you can join the army and marry at 16 but you can’t have a say in who governs you.
When asked about the war in Afghanistan she said she is against the war and that there should be withdrawal from Afghanistan.
When asked how young people could become involved, Ms Lucas said she believes that there are already a number of young people involved in ‘politics’ but not ‘Politics’; young people went on the march against the War in Iraq and often join pressure groups and join in other forms of participation but not necessarily voting. She said a more responsive political system and votes at 16 would be two ways to get young people more involved.
Regarding a question about drugs, in particularly the legalisation if cannabis she said that there needs to be a proper debate “not one run by the Daily Mail”. Ms Lucas said there needs to be a proper commission on drugs and she would support the legalisation of cannabis on two grounds; 1-because it is harder to regulate it if it is “underground” and 2- for personal/medical use.
In response to a question regarding how young people could be given a better image/name, Ms Lucas replied that she believes the problem is in fact over stated – young people are not really a part of the problem. She said young people need places to go and things to do; much of the time there is a lack of things for young people to do in their area.
I also asked her if she believes something needs to be done in order to curb the sale of alcohol. She said she believes that currently policies are not joined up regarding the sale of alcohol. Ms Lucas said drinks should be more expensive and she supports the proposal to increase the unit tax on alcohol, supermarkets shouldn’t sell alcohol so cheaply and that she thinks 24hr licensing should be banned.
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