Green Successes

The Green Party is growing fast. We now represent people in Westminster and in a record number of local councils, as well as in the London Assembly.

Following the council elections we have seven councillors and are the main opposition party on Labour-run Reading Council – ahead of both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems.

We're working progressively on local issues; to improve the lives of all people in Reading, and to improve our local environment. As part of the Green Party of England & Wales, we share a deep concern for social and environmental justice, expressed through our national policies, we believe fair is worth fighting for.

We rely on people power rather than corporate finance in all that we do.  Get involved with us today so that we can achieve so much more for Reading.

We have:

– Successfully lobbied for the council to promote a group solar panel buying scheme getting hundreds of additional solar panel schemes installed
– Got the council to improve the council tax system to support refugees
– Got the council to recruit an officer to get more homes insulated cutting bills and carbon
– Successfully lobbied for the council to sign up to the Fair Tax Mark and work against tax avoidance
– Stopped Reading Labour from firing and rehiring council staff
– Successfully campaigned for the council to recruit more stable permanent staff and spend less on expensive agency staff
– Successfully lobbied for the council to increase it's tree cover target from 25% by 2050 in the draft tree strategy, to 25% by 2030
– Worked with the community for a public swimming pool for East Reading
– Lobbied to defeat Reading Labour's plan to build a road by the Thames
– Campaigned against cuts to library services
– Got the council to introduce a council tax exemption for care leavers
– Introduced motion for a fair workload charter for teachers
– Pressured council to commit to UNISON's Ethical Care Charter for fair pay for carers
– Pushed for investment in a solar panel scheme
– Successfully worked for a living wage for council employees and people on council contracts
– Worked with residents to get the council to introduce Play Streets
– Campaigned for the council to sign the Nottingham declaration on climate change

The Green Party Political Programme sets out what Greens are in politics to do: to end the system that keeps hurting the environment and all of us who rely on it - and to build a better alternative.

This Programme isn't like other parties' manifestos, it has not been squeezed through focus groups and stripped down according to the latest polling. Instead it has been built from policies proposed and voted on by our members, looking to secure the long term future of the places and people they love.

It's a vision of a better world, and together we can deliver it.