General Election 2019: Green issues very much at the for says candidate Ian Middleton

Green Party parliamentary candidate and incumbent Kidlington district councillor, Ian Middleton, has campaigned in his third straight GE and says there is a clear desire for the electorate to talk on green issues.
Ian MiddletonIan Middleton
Ian Middleton

With climate change very much the hot topic of the day this, in theory, should have been the election the Green Party made some headway, and in some ways it did.

Ian said: "It should have been the green, the climate change election and to some extent, it was, I think. Unfortunately, for us anyway, quite a lot of people jumped on our coattails in terms of the climate change issue but none of them really I think, have as comprehensive policy set as we did on that issue."

It is such a hot topic that this election campaign saw possibly the most comprehensive environmental policies touted by all leading parties, but Ian feels they were less than genuine.

"I think there was a fair bit of box ticking going on. I think that there was this whole thing with Friends of the Earth and Labour claiming that they were greener than we were, which was

ludicrous really, and I think that that whole thing was debunked, ultimately.

"From our point of view, it's more of a national issue because. I think we know who's going to be a number 10 tomorrow, we need to be able to hold them to account on on climate issues and climate change and make sure that that issue doesn't sit down the agenda.

"They (Conservatives) had the poorest manifesto in terms of green issues, and they really their manifesto was fairly vacuous anyway, but in terms of climate change, I think they'll just carry on business as usual, which is obviously going to be devastating I think, for everybody.

The last general election was supposed to be Ian's last but then Brexit reared its ugly head.

"I said, in 2017, never again and then the whole Brexit issue kicked off, and I said, well, I'll do it again, because I really wanted to make an issue about Brexit. Then obviously, climate change became the real issue from our point of view.

"It was good to be having conversations on the doorstep with people about climate change. I would knock on doors and say to people, would you support the Green Party? And usually, you know, their a little bit ambivalent, but so many people were saying, yes, and you'd be a little bit taken aback.

"They would say it's because I've watched Blue Planet, or I've been listening to this programme about the environment, and I'm really worried about it for my children and the future."

Ian has vowed to 'never say never' about standing for a fourth time.

To read about Labour candidate, Suzette Watson's campaign click here.

To read about Lib Dem candidate, Tim Bearder's campaign, click here.

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