Green Party candidate for Mayor of Croydon, Peter Underwood, explains why we are opposed to the extension of the Mayor’s Public Space Protection Order.

Here we go again! Croydon Council is planning to introduce yet another Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

Despite having failed twice already, under Labour and the Conservatives, Jason Perry is convinced that another PSPO will solve everything that he thinks is wrong in the town centre.

So, what is a PSPO?

Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) came into existence under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 and give Councils the power to turn normal behaviour into a crime. A PSPO lasts for three years.

As I pointed out when the Labour Council first came up with a PSPO for Croydon, this was just allowing petty local politicians to impose their prejudices on the rest of us.

I also spoke to Dr Bradley Garrett, an ethnographic geographer writing for the Guardian, who was highlighting PSPOs being used as part of a wider attack on our freedoms and the ongoing private control of our public spaces.

PSPOs not only allow the police to use these new powers, the powers can be passed on to others – allowing rich businesses and landowners to have their own private police forces.

Despite all of these sensible objections, the Labour Council introduced a PSPO in 2017. Did it make our town centre a better place? No, and that’s why when it came to an end in 2020 it wasn’t renewed.

But then along came Jason Perry with his own set of prejudices and petty peccadillos and he decided to impose his own PSPO.

Ria Patel, one of the Green Party Councillors for the town centre, made clear at the time that the PSPO was not just a failure it was also actively harmful. The PSPO just moved people and activities from the town centre into surrounding areas and “In a town where public confidence in the police is already low, and a society where black people and young people are disproportionately affected by police violence, all that introducing the PSPO will do is make matters worse and further reduce public confidence in the police.”

Again, despite these sensible objections, the Conservatives pushed on and introduced a PSPO in 2022.

So has the PSPO been a success? Obviously not.

Perry himself doesn’t believe that anti-social behaviour has reduced. In a toddler tantrum at his own failure, he has even started removing benches because if people won’t use then nicely then they can’t use them at all. Never mind all those people who might need a sit down when out doing their shopping who have also now been excluded from the town centre.

Despite Perry’s ongoing persecution of homeless people and anyone who tries to help them, the number of homeless people in Croydon is still going up. Perry just doesn’t want to see the evidence of his Party’s failures sleeping in any sheltered spots in the town centre.

Allowing the use of private enforcement forces has even led to thuggish harassment of families just trying to do their shopping. Yet another way that Perry is making Croydon less welcoming.

The fundamental problem with PSPOs is that they are based on the cruel, and completely false, idea that you can stop something happening just by increasing the punishment. Longer prison sentences do not reduce crime and issuing fines does not stop people drinking in the street or help anyone find somewhere to live.

As the South Norwood Community Kitchen have said “criminalising the symptoms of a broken society does not solve its problems” .

In politics we’re used the same old parties rolling out the same old ideas and failing in the same old ways. But there comes a time when we all have to say enough is enough. We need real action to tackle the underlying problems in our society, not just another false promise.

A new PSPO will not tackle any of the problems in Croydon town centre and it will actually make people’s lives worse. Please reply to the consultation and tell Croydon Council that you definitely disagree with having yet another PSPO.

We don’t need more pompous and petty politicians dishing out punishments to people they don’t like. If we want Croydon to improve, then we need to work together to develop real solutions to make all of our lives better.

The post Greens oppose PSPO in Croydon town centre appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

Following the recent Government statement about sending in Commissioners to oversee some aspects of Croydon Council, Green Councillors Ria Patel and Esther Sutton have written to Jim McMahon, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution.

Greens have stated that any plan to improve Croydon Council must include a debt write-off. We have also repeated our call for the Government to fund Croydon fairly. We have made it clear that the Commissioners must not be used to undermine local democracy but they should have the power to call for the additional funding that Croydon desperately needs.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

25 June 2025

Dear Jim McMahon MP,

RE: Representation to June 2025 Written Ministerial Statement on Local Government Best Value and the Future of Croydon Council

We are writing as Croydon Green Group to respond to your recent Written Ministerial Statement dated 12 June 2025, concerning the funding and governance of local authorities, with particular reference to the ongoing situation in Croydon.

We must express deep concern that the proposal to appoint commissioners in Croydon erodes democracy and doesn’t provide any actual solutions to address Croydon’s structural financial challenges, nor is it the significant financial intervention required to secure a fair and sustainable future for our borough.

Croydon’s financial situation is critical. The Council’s debt has reached £1.4 billion and is set to rise to £2 billion by 2029. Over £167 million in budget cuts have already been made, with an additional millions projected. £130 million worth of assets have been sold off, with more sales proposed. This situation is unsustainable and leaves vital public services and resources vulnerable. Croydon Council must protect its services and assets in light of previous reductions and the ongoing disposal of public resources.

1. Debt Relief, Not Perpetual Capitalisation
The current capitalisation arrangements, which force Croydon to borrow with interest to meet day-to-day costs, deepens the problem. This model is fundamentally unsustainable. Annual debt repayments, which are due to reach £110 million per year by 2029, putting frontline services under intolerable pressure.

We urge the Government to consider a one-off, full or partial debt write-off, similar to interventions made in the past for other bodies. Without this, Croydon is being asked to recover while shackled to the very burden that caused its collapse. As a start, the government should scrap all interest payments required with any capitalisation directions.

2. Fair and Adequate Funding for Local Authorities
While we acknowledge the commitment to review the local government funding formula, this must be both needs-based and fast-tracked. Years of underfunding have contributed to a hollowing out of services, particularly in areas like Croydon with high social need and inequality. We need fairer funding for Croydon, compared to other London boroughs. Croydon is an outer London borough; however, it faces issues similar to those of inner London boroughs, and often funding does not adequately reflect these challenges. Two specific areas that need greater funding are housing and homelessness, and SEND.

From a local perspective, Croydon cannot endure continuous cuts, without irreversible damage and continued harm to our residents, particularly those who are more vulnerable. We acknowledge the Spending Review is expected to conclude this summer, and we believe the local authority funding model needs drastic changes. Significant investment in local authorities is needed to offset the years of austerity, which could be funded through a wealth tax. A more ambitious and immediate uplift in grant funding is essential, and must be factored into the upcoming Spending Review. Additionally, a Council Tax banding review, and a commitment to long-term multi-year funding for local government, would provide more sustainability and allow for future-planning.

3. Protecting Services and Democratic Accountability
We remain concerned that the use of commissioners risks undermining local democracy and accountability, while failing to address the root causes of financial distress. Next year, we have local elections and there will be a new council, and hopefully a new Executive Mayor elected. Given we live in a democracy, it is vital that those elected retain decision-making power.

If commissioners are appointed, the council will have to pay a significant amount of money per day for commissioners, an increase on what is being spent on the Improvement and Assurance Panel. For a borough which is already financially struggling, this adds to the financial burden instead of providing a real solution.

It’s also unclear to what extent commissioners will be able to influence the government. If commissioners are appointed, they must have powers to mandate additional financial support from the government. Without such authority, their presence will likely worsen the situation rather than improve it.

We are both proud Croydon residents, and are committed to creating a borough that thrives. Croydon Council, and the Green Group, is committed to solving the financial challenges, but this is not possible without substantial financial support from the government. We do not see this intervention as a viable solution, and believe a more collaborative approach is needed, with the onus on the government to write-off our debt, and better fund local authorities.

Croydon is not an isolated case. It is a warning. Without bold intervention – a restructure of local authority funding, which centres genuine local decision-making, transparency from government, and a long-term funding solution for local authorities – other councils may follow a similar path. We urge you to take this opportunity to reset not just Croydon’s finances, but the wider principles of local government support.

Yours sincerely,

Councillor Ria Patel

Councillor Esther Sutton

Croydon Green Group

The post Greens respond to Government statement on Croydon Council appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

Green Party candidate for Mayor of Croydon, Peter Underwood, gives his verdict on the latest episode in the long history of failures at Croydon Council.

The people of Croydon have been let down by a bunch of failures. We have been left in a mess, and we now need big changes to get us out of it.

The biggest failure is Jason Perry. He has said his “top priority has always been to fix the Council’s finances” and it’s clear he has completely failed. Even worse than that, Perry and his Conservative Cabinet haven’t even managed to get the most basic financial management systems in place. They don’t know where the money is being spent so how can they claim that they know what they are doing?

They have put up our Council tax by 27% in three years, sold off our assets on the cheap, slashed public services, and still failed to do the biggest thing they promised before the election.

Perry is claiming that bringing in Government Commissioners is just a political attack. He says that if the Government wanted them to do more they should have said. Surely any sensible person would have realised that if you are continuing to fail then you shouldn’t have to wait for someone else to tell you do something about it.

Also, if Perry had actually read the panel’s report, he would see that it was the Improvement Panel appointed by his Conservative Government who have said he has failed. They were the ones recommending that Commissioners need to be brought in. The Labour Minister has just followed their advice.

Labour in Croydon are trying to turn this into a political attack, but they have no right claim they are any better. Their own record in charge of the Council shows they were equally incompetent and for the last three years Labour Councillors have all failed to provide any sensible opposition. They have sat on their hands and let the illegal and farcical Conservative budgets pass, instead of joining the Greens and voting against them. The Labour Mayoral candidate was even chair of the scrutiny committee who were in charge of examining Jason Perry’s budgets and yet she still didn’t vote against them. Yet another political failure.

The second area where there has been a complete failure is at Senior Officer level in the Council. There are clearly questions about the competence of Senior Officers if they don’t even know what’s happening in the areas they are supposed to manage. Since the start of the financial crisis the number of Senior Officers and their pay levels have gone up while the number of frontline staff has gone down. This is the opposite of what should be happening.

Third is the failure of the Improvement Panel. Their report is littered with inconsistences and excuses and contains the wonderfully damming sentence “we reported via a factual update letter the continuing positive progress against the Exit Strategy, with the exception of a significant deterioration in the Council’s financial position.” In other words, the panel thought the plan they agreed was going wonderfully well apart from the fact that it was failing to solve the problem and things were actually getting worse.

It does lead you to question what insight and expertise the panel were bringing if they agreed an improvement plan for the finances that didn’t lead to any improvement in the finances. The next question is why were we paying them so much money for the privilege?

The fourth area of failure is the Government itself. The most obvious failure of the Labour Government is that they have refused to restore the funding to Councils that was cut by the Conservatives over the previous 14 years. Labour have just continued the Conservative lies about everything being solved through mythical efficiency savings.

Councils across the country now don’t have enough funding to deliver the services they are legally obliged to. Croydon has faced increased pressure compared to many others and yet Government funding has still not been returned to anywhere near the level that Councils need. Croydon is also still the victim of the unfair allocation system that means we get far less per person than many other London Councils. The failure to fund Croydon fairly is yet another failure to add to the list.

So, having listed just some of the failures, the important question is what happens next?

On the political level it doesn’t look like Jason Perry or any of his cabinet will have the decency to resign. That means we will have to wait until next May to vote all of them out. I am a candidate for Mayor of Croydon and my business qualifications and years of management experience in the public and not-for-profit sectors is helping convince more and more people that I am the best option to replace Perry. I’m not promising miracles but I am promising to do the job that the Executive Mayor should be doing.

At Senior Officer level there surely has to be a clear-out. There are just too many Senior Officers being paid far too much, and this report implies that they are not up to the job. As Mayor I would be looking to restructure the Council to make it less top-heavy, review which of the Senior Offices we wanted to keep, and aim to attract ambitious new people to these senior positions who relish the opportunity to show they can really fix the problems. Working at Croydon Council needs to be turned into a badge of honour, not a stain on your CV.

With regards to the new Commissioners, we don’t yet know exactly what powers they will have and what their main areas of focus will be, but we do need to keep a very careful eye on them. We will need to take a stand against more cuts to services, more selling off of our useful assets, or more of our money being wasted on consultants and the Commissioners themselves.

At Government level we need to keep up the pressure on the Government to end Conservative attitudes to public spending. As Mayor I would work with other Councils and MPs to collectively apply more pressure and increase the public demand for fair funding. 

Judgement day has happened, and too many people have been found to have failed us. There is hope, but we need to change a lot at Croydon Council. I hope you will join me in working to make that happen.

The post Goverment to oversee Croydon Council appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

• Organised litter picks at Croydon Minster and Queen’s Gardens, with plenty of helpers including local residents and Croydon Green Party members.
• Spoke at the council’s planning committee to oppose the development of Stoneham House (which risks blocking light to existing residents and poor conditions for future residents), and an HMO (house in multiple occupation) in the Chatsworth Road conservation area.
• Asked questions at councillor briefings, specifically about the council’s use of AI chatbots on its website, and Youth Justice issues.
• Supported Tamworth Estate residents at a repairs drop-in event.
• Attended the Annual Council Meeting.
• Joined a meeting of the Surrey Street Action Group, a group formed to look out for the interests of Surrey Street traders.
• Attended the Faiths Together Picnic, a family-friendly gathering organised by Faiths Together in Croydon, an inter-faith network representing our borough’s diverse faiths.
• Spoke at the AGM of the National Education Union’s Croydon branch on the subject of Croydon Divest, a campaign to have Croydon Council divest pension funds from arms and environmentally-damaging organisations.
• Attended the ward panel, a regular meeting to discuss local policing issues.
• Observed a meeting of the council’s Scrutiny & Overview committee.

Keep an eye out for us as we get things done in Croydon!

The post Fairfield Councillor Roundup: May 2025 appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

The combination of unreliable politicians and profit hungry developers is putting our green spaces under threat yet again. Peter Underwood, our candidate for Mayor of Croydon, writes about an example in South Croydon that shows that none of our green spaces are safe under Labour of the Conservatives.

I know how important our green spaces are to people in Croydon. We love our parks, woodlands, ponds, and even the small patches of nature and greenery we have dotted about the borough. These living vibrant spots are a vital contrast to the brick and concrete that surrounds us and they bring so much joy into our lives.

Sadly, too many of our politicians and the money obsessed developers just don’t care.

The latest example is the Sale of Ashen Grove. This small patch of woodland was sold recently for £105,000 and the new buyer immediately put it back on the market claiming that is a site for new housing. It has then sold for £170,000.

Ashen Grove shouldn’t be built on for lots of reasons. The obvious first reason is that there is no easy access to this site. It has footpaths at either end and, despite the active imagination of whoever created the computer images, none of the entrances appear to be wide enough for a road – which means no access for fire engines or ambulances if they were ever needed. Unless one or more of the neighbours to the entrances chose to sell up to allow their house to be knocked down, the lack of access to the site would hopefully make any development here impractical.

The next reason for not building here is that it is an important site for nature – there are some very old trees on the site, an active badger sett and a wide variety of other interesting natural features.

It is listed as one of Croydon’s Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and guidance says that development that negatively impacts a SINC should only be permitted in exceptional circumstances. However, it appears that the definition of ‘exceptional circumstances’ might now be stretched to include meeting the arbitrary housing targets set by the new Labour Government.

Despite his previous comments about protecting London’s green spaces, Sadiq Khan has now announced plans to “actively explore” building all over them.

Even the seller for Ashen Grove said in their sales blurb “prospective buyers may wish to refer to national target set for new home development….and may result in sites not previously considered suitable for development now being considered by planning authorities.”

Before any Local Conservatives try to claim that they are any better than the Labour Government and Labour Mayor of London, I would remind them that Conservative Mayor Perry was desperate for Croydon to be one of the Conservative Government’s “Investment Zones” that would have removed planning protections and organisations like the RSPB referred to it as an “attack on nature”.

Both Labour and the Conservatives have been conned by their rich developer friends into believing that the only way to fix the housing crisis is let them build more houses. Saying you can solve the housing crisis by building more houses is like claiming you can stop children in this country going to bed hungry by getting farmers to produce more food – it is a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem.

Even if you do believe we need more houses, there are plenty of places in Croydon that already have planning permission and/or have derelict buildings that could be replaced with new housing. For example, not far from Ashen Grove is the old Selsdon Garage, which has stood empty for over 20 years waiting for a developer to build housing instead of just using it as a ‘land bank’.

Instead of letting developers destroy our precious green spaces we should be getting those existing plans delivered.

I know local residents are really against any new development on Ashen Grove and I will work with them to do all we can to stop this precious green space being destroyed.

As a candidate for Mayor of Croydon I also promise to do all I can to protect our green spaces right across the borough, and I will fight back against any plans from Labour or Conservatives to build on them.

The post Green spaces under threat – again! appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

Croydon Green Party is delighted to announce that Peter Underwood has been selected as our candidate for Mayor of Croydon.

The Green Party is the clear challenger to the failing Conservative and Labour parties.

At the general election last year, the Green Party got the third most votes in Croydon. Our vote went up more than any other party while votes for both Conservatives and Labour went down. You know you deserve better than more misery under Labour or Conservatives and that’s why you need to vote Green at the next election.

Peter was chosen as our candidate for Mayor as he has a long track record of working as part of the community to make Croydon a better place to live. His professional experience also means Peter can get on with tackling the dysfunctional Council and get it back on the road to serving the public.

The Green Party campaigned against have a Mayoral system because we don’t think all that power should be put in one person’s hands. The last four years have provided plenty of evidence of why this dictatorship style of leader is not what we want.Voting Green is also the first step to getting rid of the wasteful Mayor system and moving to the committee system used in better performing Councils. Peter’s commitment to work with residents and community groups mean that voting Green is the best way to truly put power back in the hands of the people of Croydon.

Peter’s key aims as Mayor

I know people in Croydon have had enough of the Conservative and Labour parties who have worked together to ruin our borough.

We desperately need a change for the better and that’s what the Greens are offering.

I believe that the only way we are going to make Croydon better is by working together. I stand against those politicians who stir up division and hatred. I stand against those politicians who only want to help some people and make life worse for others. I want to bring our communities together to make life better for all of us.

I also believe we need to bring honesty back into politics, you deserve politicians you can trust. We all know the dreadful state Croydon is in and so I’m not going to make the sort of fake promises and false claims we’ve all heard before from other candidates.

I will make clear promises that you can rely on:

• I will fight for fair funding for Croydon and work with other Councils to put pressure on the Government to provide the money we need to keep the Council running
• I will change the way Croydon Council is run to cut the amount of money wasted on consultants, too many senior staff, and senior Councillor allowances, and put that money back into employing front line staff and delivering the services we actually need
• I won’t just claim to be listening to residents, I will be actively involving residents in the decision-making process. I will be inviting community representatives and people who have the experience of using Council services to help develop new ideas, help make decisions, and become part of the whole process of improving the way the Council works.

I don’t believe that one person has all the answers and so I will be working with our brilliant Councillors Ria Patel and Esther Sutton, and the other fantastic Green candidates who will be standing for election all over Croydon to truly make this a people’s campaign. I intend to be a Mayor who truly works with the people of Croydon and for the people of Croydon.

We have suffered for too long under the Conservatives and Labour. If you vote for those same old parties, you will just get the same old politics.

You know you deserve better and that’s why this time you need to vote Green.

About Peter

Peter has lived in Croydon for over twenty years and is very active in his local community. He is on the committee of his Residents’ Association and his local woodland Friends group. He is a former chair of Croydon Friends of the Earth and was also a member of the Croydon Climate Crisis Commission.

Peter was brought up in the midlands of England, the son and grandson of coal miners and car factory workers. Peter went to his local comprehensive school and, despite becoming homeless when he was 17 years old, successfully gained a place at Oxford University where he studied Philosophy and Psychology. Peter also has a Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Peter spent the first half of his career working in the civil service. He started off offering benefits advice in Croydon and over the years moved through many different government roles and promotions to end up leading the team that wrote the UK’s renewable energy strategy. He has worked in both the UK Parliament and the European Parliament.

For the last ten years Peter worked for environment conservation charities, working to support volunteers looking after our local parks and woodlands as well as working on large rewilding projects in Scotland. People is also currently a trustee of a charity that aims to improve planning rules and our living environments across London.

Peter has been active in the Green Party for over ten years and spent over four years as a member of the Green Party governing body. Peter has also represented the Green Party of England and Wales at European conferences.

The post Peter Underwood for Mayor of Croydon appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

Sutton Green Party are pleased to announce that Peter Friel is standing as our candidate for the upcoming Council by-election in Sutton Central Ward on 10 April.

Peter lives in the ward and has lived in Sutton all of his life. Peter works in the financial sector and has organised numerous fundraising events for cancer charities.

Peter said:

“I am standing for election because we need a resident’s voice on the Council. It feels like the Council is just petty squabbles between the political parties and we need someone to stand up for people who live here.

I believe in better public services; I care about protecting our precious green spaces; and I believe that our Council should treat everyone fairly and decently – that’s why I’m standing as the Green Party candidate.

My wife and I have brought up our daughter here and so we know what it’s really like to live here, to use local schools, our NHS, and suffer the declining services from Sutton Council. If you want someone who you know will really fight for the local area to make things better for us living here, then please vote for me to be your new Councillor on April 10^th.”

The post Peter Friel is our by-election candidate for Sutton Central appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

• Ria and Esther organised a community litter pick at The Queen’s Gardens. There was a great turnout of local residents, gathering a dozen bags of rubbish!
• Ria and Esther spoke to residents from Woburn and Bedford Court about the proposed demolition of their estate, hosting a public meeting, and supporting residents to get their views heard.
• Together with Croydon Green Party members, Ria and Esther also spoke to town centre residents on their doorstops, listening to their concerns and helping to solve local issues.
• They attended many meetings with officers at Bernard Weatherill House (the council offices) raising residents’ issues.
• Ria campaigned against the regular live facial recognition operations in the town centre. Croydon has had the most live facial recognition operations in London so far in 2024.
• Both Ria and Esther supported residents on Tamworth Estate before the launch of the brand new Tamworth Estate Community Hub.
• Ria also joined the rest of the Sutton & Croydon Green Party at the yearly Carshalton Eco Fair, talking to local residents, and just as importantly, helping to get the tea and cake from our vegan café to eco fair visitors!

Keep an eye out for us as we get things done in Croydon, and we’ll be back here next month for a slightly more Autumnal update.

The post Our Fairfield Councillor Roundup for August appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

Aasha said:

“We all know that politics is broken and we deserve far better. So I joined the Green Party to ‘be the change I want to see’. I want to bring integrity, transparency and ethics back into politics and I promise to be a representative that you can trust.

As a renter for 20+ years I have seen the unbelievable rise in rents accompanied by falling standards from landlords. Our commitment to affordable, secure and healthy accommodation as a basic human right will lead to affordable rents and a rental market that is fair for everyone.

In my professional life I have seen that training levels are far lower in the UK than in other similar countries. This not only holds back the UK economy and our transition to a sustainable future but also impacts the life chances for people who want to build a successful career. The Green Party’s re-skilling strategy will help us achieve real change and build the sustainable economy that will benefit us all.

The recent situation in Gaza highlighted for me the problem with too many of our politicians. I was pleased to see that right from the outset the Green Party took a stand for justice, human rights, and working for a peaceful solution, while other parties and politicans dithered and some actually supported violations of international law. We need politicians who we can trust to stick to their principles.

We deserve better than the other parties are offering and if you want better you have to vote for it. That’s why I’m telling everyone that this time you need to vote Green”

About Aasha

Aasha works for an International Recruitment Agency focussed in creating careers to power a sustainable future. She specialises in finding and matching people to jobs internationally and in the last few years has focussed heavily in the Retraining/Upskilling and Early Careers sectors.

Aasha lives locally but has spent time living and working in other countries. She brings this wealth of experience into her professional and political life.

Away from work, Aasha enjoys spending time outdoors and walking her dog.

The post Aasha Anam is our General Election candidate for Sutton & Cheam appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.

Tracey said:

“I am pleased to have been selected again to stand for the Green Party in Carshalton and Wallington. I know people in this area have really suffered under the current Government and I am standing to offer people real change and real hope for the future.

As an energy advisor I’ve met lots of people who are struggling with paying their bills, and this leads to sleepless nights and worsening health. On top of this rents and mortgages are going up and wages have gone down.

The Green Party realises that the solutions to these problems are linked. Just as one example, a mass insulation programme will not only reduce bills, it will improve the quality of housing, reduce ill health, and tackle help tackle the climate crisis. It will create jobs and put more money back into people’s pockets and local small businesses.

Just getting the Conservatives out isn’t enough. The other parties aren’t offering meaningful change or real solutions to the problems we face. The Green Party is the only one promising to take our public services back into public hands; introduce a Universal Basic Income to lift people out of poverty; and reform our voting and political systems so that they are fair and work for everyone, not just those at the top.

You deserve better than just the same old politics from the same old parties. But if you want better, then you have to vote for better. It’s time to vote Green.”

About Tracey

Many local people will also know Tracey from the Green Party’s tea and cake stall at the Carshalton Eco Fair where Tracey ensures there is a range of delicious plant-based and allergy-sensitive cakes available.

Tracey was born and brought up in Croydon, has lived there almost her entire life and has chosen to bring her family up there.

Tracey has worked in the public, private, and the voluntary and community sectors. She currently works for a local charity supporting people from ethnic minorities in tackling fuel poverty and health inequalities.

Tracey has undertaken a range of voluntary work including at a food bank, teaching skills for life to young people (Scouting), fundraising for school resources (parents association), giving advice and support on vegan cooking and nutrition (Sustainable Thornton Heath).

Tracey is a founder member of her local park Friends group, has sat on the Scrutiny sub-committee as the patients’ representative and been a trustee of a local ecology centre and a local voluntary organisation.

The post Tracey Hague is our General Election candidate for Carshalton & Wallington appeared first on Sutton & Croydon Green Party.