The Green Party election campaigns for Sheffield and the Yorkshire & Humber region will be launched in Sheffield on Wednesday April 18th at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.

The launch is at The Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield at11am. The focus will be on privatisation of the NHS and across public services and the impact on unemployment with the latest national figures released at 9.30 am on that day. Greens have been a consistent presence in the strong “Sheffield Save our NHS” campaign in the last 15 months

In Sheffield Rob Murphy aims to defend Central ward and Bernard Little aims to take Broomhill from the Lib Dems. In the region Greens aim to hold seats in Bradford, Kirklees and Leeds and are well positioned to take a second seat from the Tories in Kirkburton ward in Kirklees, after winning there in 2011.

Sheffield Green group leader and Central ward councillor Jillian Creasy comments

“I’m a doctor as well as a councillor. Greens have always argued for high-quality hospitals that are free to patients and part of a national health service. That’s why we are launching our campaign at the Hallamshire hospital and why we’ve campaigned from the start against NHS privatisation. Unlike the Lib Dems who supported the Government’s recent NHS Bill. And unlike Labour, who started privatising NHS services 10 years ago and only really opposed the Bill when it was too late.

We also oppose the Government’s £20 billion NHS spending cuts because they will lead to cancelled treatments and longer waiting lists. Plus further job losses, as the latest unemployment figures are likely to indicate on Wednesday. Hallamshire hospital is in Broomhill ward which has a high concentration of public sector workers. They must all be very concerned about their job security”

Regional co-ordinator Eamonn Ward comments 

“There are positive signs for Bernard Little in Broomhill ward and Robert Barraclough has a very good chance of a gain in Kirkburton. Greens easily won all 3 seats in parish by elections there in February and we have the majority on the Parish Council. The work of our councillors contributed to the council winning at the 2008 Renewable Energy Awards.

We hope to hold the seats we are defending in Bradford, Kirklees, Leeds and Sheffield and make a net again of two councillors to take us to 16 seats in the region. Our five Green council groups in the region have been doing solid ward work for many years. Greens are in it for the long haul – our councillors act in the best interests of residents in the medium to long term. “

Promoted by Eamonn Ward, 73 Eskdale Rd, Sheffield, S6 1Sl on behalf of Sheffield and Yorkshire & The Humber Green Party

“Greens have played a big part in the Sheffield Save our NHS campaign over the past year. Jillian Creasy and I persuaded the Council to oppose the government’s NHS Bill in September. We’ll continue to fight to maintain the original values of the NHS.”

Councillor Creasy’s speech in full

Why was the NHS so important?

The secret is in the name:

NATIONALISED – publicly funded & publicly provided

HEALTH – designed to improve health as well as treat sickness

It has given us:

The cheapest system per head in the western world

Universal coverage allows prevention and crisis management – e.g. polio vaccination,cancer screening (smear tests), rapid response to swine flu, silicone breast implants removed, terrorist attack victims and war wounded treated and rehabilitated.

Research base – so valuable they plan to sell the data!

Training – doctors, nurses, technicians – here and worldwide

UK is third most unequal country in the world (cf USA) – not just the poverty but the inequality itself leads to ill health – but NHS mitigates effects

SERVICE

Most importantly, it is about service, not profit, not a market place, but public service.
Health and Social Care represent the idea that:

· civilised society is about caring for each other

· politics is about planning for the greater good

· people are motivated not by greed but by altruism

· we are stronger together than divided

So when we shout, “save our NHS” we are upholding all these good things – nationalisation, health not sickness, service not profit.

SAVE OUR NHS!

Why does the government want to kill the NHS?

Tories – and some elite Labour politicians – will make personal profit from investments in “health-care” businesses, but their hatred of the NHS is ideological, the NHS:

· represent planning & management of precious resources not the free market

· shows that public service is a GOOD thing

· stands for people not profit

Why was the Save our NHS campaign so important?

We stood alongside:

Those who built it – came out of the horrors of the depression in the 1930s and WWll and imagined a better world – great leaders, but great people too

Those who fought the top down targets and the internal market under Thatcher – we marched, we held huge rallies in the City Hall

Those who fought full commercialisation under Labour (despite their 1997 manifesto to abolish the internal market).

Labour increased funding to the NHS but money haemorrhaged into private companies, PFI schemes, Independent Sector Treatment Centres.

Above all, Labour embedded the mantra that privatisation (of health, education, energy, transport) is more efficient than public service.

The Tories and Lib Dems also said the NHS was safe, this bill was not in their manifestos or the coalition agreement. But they have opened the market even further – hospitals will be allowed to use half their beds for private patients.

How did we fight this bill?

We marched, we petitioned – on paper and on line, we adopted a peer, we lobbied our MPs, we invaded banks dressed in bloody bandages.

The Green Party did its bit – our banner at every march and rally, our members working with SSONHS, the Green councillors putting motions to council, talking to the press

And we all continued to work in the increasingly cash-strapped and chaotic NHS, continuing to care for it and for each other.

How shall we go on fighting?

Even as this battle is lost, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin to organise

We must monitor the contracts with providers – identify excess profit

We must fight to keep terms and conditions of employment

We must participate in the emasculated patient organisations

But above all, we must not lose sight of the idea that

· public service is a good thing

· people are more important than profit

· we are stronger together than divided.

So, for old times sake, let us say it once more:

SAVE OUR NHS!

The British Social Attitudes survey indicates the majority of people think the head of a reasonably sized company should earn no more than six times the pay of the shop floor staff. The Chief Executive in Sheffield Council gets paid fourteen times what the lowest paid staff receive.

Years of peer reviewed academic research point to more equal societies giving their citizens better health outcomes, being more socially mobile, encouraging greater success at school and reducing teenage pregnancy, having better community life, more trust and less crime. There are different ways to reduce this gap, a key one being reducing the pay for top earners.

Councillor Rob Murphy comments:

“Reducing the gap between high and low paid has benefits when Council finances are being squeezed so much and we proposed to reduce the pay of senior Council staff in last year’s budget. It also makes sense when you look at the evidence. Once people get above a decent wage, more money doesn’t actually make them happier. And it makes others feel like they have to keep up or they’re failing in life.

We’re calling on the Council to make clear how much more the top paid executive gets than the lowest paid member of staff, both for itself and the major companies that run our services. In the long term we want to see those pay gaps reduce for the benefit of us all.”

NOTES :

1 – The motion council is as follows :

NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR ROBERT MURPHY
That this Council:-

(a) notes the campaign “Act Local = Reduce the Gap” by the Equality Trust and the public concern over pay ratios as expressed in the proposals from all political parties to reduce excessive pay in the public and private sector;

(b) notes the British Social Attitudes survey 2010 indicated the majority of people think the head of a reasonably sized company should earn no more than six times the pay of a typical worker in the company;

(c) notes that years of peer reviewed research point to more equal societies having citizens who: have better health outcomes, are more socially mobile, have greater success at school and lower rates of teenage pregnancy, have better community life, more trust and are less likely to commit crime;

(d) believes that the Council can play a central role in tackling inequality through their own pay policies and also through their influence on private-sector contractors;

(e) therefore requests officers to:-

(i) publish the highest-to-lowest pay ratio for directly employed council staff;

(ii) hold discussions with private sector companies that have major council contracts with a view to publishing, where possible, their highest-to-lowest pay ratios; and

(iii) draft a policy to include these principles within procurement processes.

2 – The British Social Attitudes Survey 2011/12 has just been released and can be accessed via http://www.britsocat.com/Home

STOP PRESS

The Lib Dem budget was passed because Labour refused to vote against the cuts. The Green Party Councillors were the only ones to vote against the cuts.

Unlike Labour and the Lib Dems, the Green Party is vehemently opposed to cuts and is clear that the national deficit can be paid off by taxing the wealthy and the banks and closing tax loopholes. But at local level, Green councillors are determined to make the best of the difficult situation and have tabled a budget amendment which seeks to save services to the most vulnerable such as children, older people, disabled people , those on low incomes, unemployed people and victims of crime. They will find the money by re-introducing a charge for green sacks (garden waste collection service), cutting executive salaries, reducing the “discretionary” budgets for Community Assemblies and bringing Sheffield Homes (who run council housing) back in house.
They will also make a big investment (£6m) in fitting solar panels on council buildings and council houses, with the profits from the Feed in Tariff being returned to the council and the Housing Revenue Account, hence providing an income stream for 25 years.
Services their budget amendment would save include:
1) reverse the cut (21%) to Sure Start centres
2) reverse the cut to all advice centres and services
3) continue to fund 15 Police Community Support Officers
4) save Kirkhill day centre and residential service (for elderly people)
5) keep the full complement of one and a half disability access advice officers
6) reverse the cut to the Air Quality team
7) give extra support to the Affordable Warmth (insulation) team
8) keep an extra 4 officers in the decimated Private Rented Standards team
9) save  Rushey Meadows children’s respite centre (Lib Dems announced they would do this, but didn’t allocate a specific pot of money for it)
10) save Black Palm which offers mentoring to young people to keep them out of trouble
11) keep one officer to support Eco-schools
12) continue to fund Sheffield Renewables (which is developing small scale renewable energy projects).
They point out that their amendment can get through with support of either Labour and/or the Lib Dems.
Cllr Jillian Creasy said, “We oppose the cuts being imposed on us by government but we really do want to save these services. Redundancy notices are being issued now and services will have been damaged beyond repair by the time of the local elections in May.  We are willing to talk to the other parties to try to get this amendment accepted on Budget day.”
ENDS
Notes
1. For further info contact Cllr Creasy at jillian.creasy@sheffield.gov.uk or tel 07791 614 904
2. For information on how the Green Party would pay off the national deficit visit http://www.greenparty.org.uk/policies/banking_2010/banking_detail.html

Amendment to be moved by Councillor Robert Murphy, seconded by Councillor Jillian Creasy

That so much of the minutes of a meeting of the Cabinet held on 23rd February, 2011, as relates to the City Council’s Revenue Budget and Capital Programme 2011/2012, be amended by the substitution of the following resolution for those passed by the Cabinet:-

RESOLVED That: -

This Council:

(a)    abhors the cuts in local government spending being imposed by Central Government and regards them as unnecessary and unfair;

(b)    notes that the party of the smallest group is the only one to have set out a national budget showing how the deficit could be reduced through fair taxation, closing tax loopholes and investing in socially and environmentally sound projects and that this approach would also protect jobs, public services, welfare benefits and the well-being of future generations;

(c)    notes that the cuts have fallen disproportionately on northern metropolitan authorities, including Sheffield and regrets that the administration has failed to publicly acknowledge or campaign against the unfairness of the settlement;

(d)    notes that cuts in directly controlled council jobs and services, as well as cuts to the voluntary sector, external contractors and other partners, will have a knock-on effect on the rest of the local economy;

(e)    Recognises that as elected councillors we must nevertheless try to find ways to protect the most vulnerable and invest in those projects which will save or create jobs and income;

(f)    will therefore narrow the differential between highest and lowest paid council workers, thereby reducing the bill for executive salaries (council officers earning over £50k) by 5%, instructing the Chief Executive to propose a formula with the principle of requiring higher cuts for those on the highest salaries;

(g)    will reduce political spin emanating from the Town Hall by cutting the two political group support officer posts;

(h)    will further reduce the communications budget;

(i)    will make sure that scarce resources are spent on well planned and democratically chosen projects by reducing the discretionary funds for Community Assemblies;

(j)    will run council-owned housing more efficiently and democratically by bringing Sheffield Homes “in house”, with a shortened consultation to explain the rationale for doing so;

(k)    acknowledges that waste services in Sheffield are dominated by the 35 year contract first signed in 2001, when the present Administration was last in power, to invest in an oversized incinerator, and that bolting on additional kerbside recycling did not “get it right first time”, is very costly and has only marginally increased the total amount of material being recycled;

(l)    will therefore undertake a major review of waste management taking into account the true environmental benefits, local requirements, and practical consequences of any new scheme and linking with neighbouring local authorities, commercial and industrial waste management and related strategies such as the food plan;

(m)    will in the meantime incentivize people to compost their garden waste on site by re-introducing a small charge for green sacks;

(n)    recognises that many elderly people and their carers need the benefits of the comfort and security of specialist services rather than a menu of individualised home support and outings and will therefore save Kirkhill Day Centre and Residential Service which provides not only permanent beds but essential respite and day-care services;

(o)    recognises that respite is also vital for parents of children with disabilities and will therefore guarantee the funding for Rushey Meadows Respite Centre without further squeezing the Children and Young People’s budget;

(p)    wishes to support the independence and autonomy of disabled people and will therefore continue to fund the present quota of one and a half disability access officers;

(q)    recognises that benefits and debt advice is one of the most crucial services at a time of economic hardship and will therefore continue to fund all advice centres and services at the current level;

(r)    agrees with all the parties represented on the Council that support for children in the early years is a worthwhile investment and recognises that Sure Start Children’s Centres also encourage parents to help themselves and each other, contributing to community cohesion;

(s)    recognises that early years provision is threatened by:-

(i)    withdrawal of subsidies for the child care element of their activity;

(ii)    withdrawal of funding for other services provided under their roofs such as breast feeding peer support, citizen’s advice, ESOL; and

(iii)    the growing demand due to poverty, unemployment and new arrivals all of which place extra demands on their services;

(t)    will therefore not reduce the grant to Sure Start this year;

(u)    will also undertake a thorough review of the structure and work of the Multi Agency Support Teams to determine if there is any overlap with Sure Start and create a more efficient and streamlined service in which most families get the support they need from a front line community based provider;

(v)    also wishes to support older children and young people and will therefore continue to support Black Palm’s well established preventative work in mentoring young people and keeping them out of trouble;

(w)    recognises that the police service is also facing cuts and unprecedented pressures and that local communities have benefited from extra council-funded Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), so will continue to fund 15 PCSOs thus releasing police funds to keep more “bobbies on the beat”;

(x)    recognises that the failure of the last government to invest in new council and affordable housing has led to more and more people turning to the private rented sector for accommodation and that enforcement of reasonable standards is vitally important, so will fund an extra four officers in the Private Rented Standards team;

(y)    recognises that the most cost efficient way to reduce carbon emissions, energy bills and hence fuel poverty is to insulate homes and will therefore provide extra funding to the Affordable Warmth team;

(z)    recognises the economic and environmental opportunity afforded by the Feed in Tariffs scheme to invest in renewable energy and thereby create jobs, save money and reduce Sheffield’s carbon footprint and will therefore draw down £6 million Invest to Save borrowing to support installing solar panels on council buildings (£1m) council houses (£5m):-

(i)    for Council buildings, this will allow the Council to own a share of the “Solar City” scheme currently being worked up and funded by Kier (though not yet reported to Cabinet) and the capital borrowing required will be from general funds; and

(ii)    for council housing, the funding for the capital borrowing will come from savings in the Housing Revenue Account made by bringing Sheffield Homes “in house” meaning that while council tenants will get free electricity the Feed in Tariff profits will be ploughed back into the HRA account providing an income source for the next 25 years;
(aa)    recognises that Sheffield Renewables are providing one of the few genuine renewable energy projects in the City and that, if successful, will also create a template for a local “green bank” whereby Sheffielders can invest their money in a sustainable project and will therefore continue funding them for a further year until they become self-sustaining;
(bb)    recognises the educational, environmental and economic benefit of the Eco-schools scheme and will retain one Council officer to support it;

(cc)    recognises the Council’s legal responsibility to produce and implement an effective Air Quality Plan for the City and will therefore reverse the cut to that team;
(dd)    will ensure that the following priorities are funded from the upcoming Local Transport Plan Settlement:-

(i)    prioritising the beginning of a roll out of a 20mph speed limit across the City, beginning with a 20 mph limit in the city centre; and

(ii)    making sure that new residents parking schemes that have not had a review get one at the earliest opportunity.

(ee)    accordingly instructs the Executive Director, Resources to implement the housing revenue budget, general fund revenue budget and the capital programme with the following amendments:-

Savings Proposals

Spending Proposals

Cllr Jillian Creasy

Sheffield Green Party has stressed again that the coalition Government’s spending cuts are unnecessary and unfair.

And the Greens have also spoken out  against the Sheffield Lib Dem Council’s cuts. Instead, Green Councillors are proposing an alternative budget which invests in projects to create jobs and save money in the long term.

Green Cllr Jillian Creasy said, ” All the other parties  campaigned in the election for significant cuts to solve the deficit.  Only  the Green Party called for  investment to create jobs, boost the economy and help save the environment. In Sheffield, only the Green Party  would  invest in the people and projects which would keep Sheffield’s economy safe.

She continued “The Greens would put money into renewable energy, better
insulation and local food growing  to help the local economy during difficult times, create skilled jobs and save the council and residents money on rising fuel bills.  This  would be a win-win-win for Sheffield and its people, now is the time to be investing for the future not making dangerous cuts.”

ENDS

Cllr Jillian Creasy

Green Party Councillors have called for all political parties to work together for the good of Sheffield. Following local elections on 6^th May, the two Green Councillors hold the balance of power between the Lib Dems (who have 42 seats) and Labour (who have 39 seats) in a “hung” council alongside Independent Cllr Frank Taylor.

The Council will hold its AGM on Wednesday 19^th May, when Councillors vote for the new Council Leader. Under the new constitution, which came into force last month, the Leader then has the right to pick a cabinet of his or her choosing.

Cllr Jillian Creasy, leader of the Green Group, said, “Sheffield has become a politically divided city. It is important for parties to work together in these difficult times for the benefit of the whole city. We will vote for a leader who is prepared to put together a cross party cabinet and who accepts the following broad aims:

• invest in jobs, with fair wages and incomes
• fairness for all in housing, education, health and transport
• help communities work together to become closer, stronger and safer
• tackle action that harms others or our planet

The two Green Councillors will be meeting with the Lib Dem and Labour leaderships during the course of Monday 10^th prior to those parties having their own meetings that evening.

ENDS

The Greens say that the city needs to develop its green energy industry to
provide energy security and jobs and to tackle fuel poverty.  The Council
rejected the Westwood Country Park wind power project in 2008 without waiting for the results of a feasibility study and has not included anaerobic digestion in the new waste management strategy.

Cllr Murphy said ‘The spectacular failure by the Lib Dem Council to reach these targets shows a lack of understanding of the big issues facing our city in the near future. This city needs real leadership on renewable energy to grab the employment and financial opportunities available.’

ENDS

MOTION

That this Council:

a. notes the high fuel prices and the related problems of energy security,
economic stability and fuel poverty;

b. Notes the motion to Full Council of 30th July 2008 proposed by Cllr
Jillian Creasy and amended by Cllr Alan Hooper, which:

i. noted that Sheffield has a Regional Spatial Strategy target of 10.6
megawatts of renewable energy generation by 2010 and a Sheffield Development
Framework commitment of 12 megawatts by 2010;

ii. commited this council to pursuing and developing renewable energy
generation at appropriate sites in Sheffield.

c. notes the council’s continuing failure to reach either target mentioned.

d. understands the current known level of grid connected renewable energy
generation in Sheffield to be zero megawatts.

e. believes this figure to be indicative of a lack of concern by the current
administration about keeping to commitments on energy issues and shows a
lack of leadership.

f. agrees with the smaller opposition group that the administration’ s
rejection of the Westwood Country Park wind power project without waiting
for the results of a feasibility study sent a signal to developers that this
Council would be unfriendly to future schemes

g. agrees with the smaller opposition group that failure to include
anaerobic digestion in the new waste management strategy is another example
of the administration’s poor understanding of the problem.

h. calls for an urgent report on the progress of this council’s commitment
to renewable energy is brought to this council within 3 months.

1. Believes that the main challenges facing Sheffield, as the rest of the world, are the gross inequalities between rich and poor and the twin threats of resource depletion and climate change;

2. Has a vision for Sheffield to be as fair and self-sufficient as possible, which will make it more resilient to the economic and environmental crises ahead;

3. Will do its utmost to save and to create jobs, valuing all workers and setting an example to other employers in the city;

4. Will direct officers to restructure the Customer First programme in such a way that outsourcing is not required and service improvements are delivered on an in-house bais;

5. Will bring forward policies to create renewable energy and preserve scarce resources, including energy, always ensuring that these are shared as fairly as possible;

6. Will therefore offer part time working across the board to all council employees, working in close consultation with front-line staff and back-filling gaps in essential and priority areas, in the expectation that this will prevent redundancies, keep posts open and provide continuity of knowledge and skills;

7. Will rename Creative Sheffield “Freshfields” and reshape it as a centre of excellence for a low-carbon, more localised economy, able to coordinate the training and job-creation opportunities associated with a massive investment in energy saving and energy generation schemes and more productive use of our green estate;

8. Will extend the Affordable Warmth scheme with grants totalling £2 million for owners of “hard to treat” homes, for instance draft-proofing gennels and running pilot projects to insulate non-cavity walls;

9. Will embark on a £5.5 million Invest to Save scheme to improve energy efficiency and install renewable energy on council buildings, with the money being recouped over 10 years via resale back to grid;

10. Will use £3.5m of reserves to establish a Kirklees-style Recharge scheme, which is a rolling fund that enables householders to install renewable energy, using a charge on their property, reclaimable when they sell it;

11. Will expand the proposed Parks and Countryside project looking into developing profitable enterprises in our parks and woodlands by directing officers to map the potential for food growing and sale, especially on council-owned farmland and derelict spaces;

12. Will bring rural strategy work in north of city under umbrella of above review;

13. Will support these initiatives by

1. retaining the two Community Development Officers in Parks and Countryside 
2. retaining the Countryside Planning Officer for a further year
3. funding an Administrative Support Officer in the allotments office
4. Not increasing charges for Parks and Green spaces concessions at a time when we wish to encourage greater community and commercial use of these spaces

14. Will set up a free bulky waste collection service, creating jobs by enhancing existing reduce, repair and re-use projects as well as providing a valuable service for those without access to private transport who cannot get to the council recycling centres and for those who cannot or who prefer not to buy new goods;

15. Recognises that the Government’s dogmatic pursuit of privatisation is mortgaging our future and will therefore abort the Highways PFI project, releasing  £5.5m of reserves, but will continue to invest in improved roads for Sheffield via the increased council contribution to the maintenance fund;

16. Will rationalise capital spending on new highways projects to reduce congestion, accidents and pollution by favouring public transport, walking and cycling and by accepting the need for a city-wide approach on road safety, prioritising schemes according to accident statistics and information;

17. Will therefore re-allocate LTP as follows:

a. put an extra £520k towards rolling out 20mph zones city wide (treating areas with the worst road safety record first)

b. make £200k available for a city centre bike park

c. put £260k into continuing action for cyclists

d. put an extra £120k into the Danger Reduction pot

e. restore and increase the investment into pedestrian schemes with £450k

f. put an extra £40k for Sustainable and Safe Modes of travel to school

g. reduce Community Assembly allocations to £100k each

h. stop the Driving me Crazy scheme

18. Direct transport officers to look at re-opening railway stations in the Abbeydale corridor and set aside £200k to start the required capital investment;

19. Provide an additional free city centre bus service, serving the City Centre, the Universities and Royal Hallamshire Hospital for one year, with work in year to mainstream future funding;

20. Reduce council funding for political spin by:

a. cutting unnecessary council communications

b. reduce the strategic events fund

c. reducing the number of political advisors for political parties

d. bring the important work of consulting with local parents under more appropriate channels of Community Assemblies, schools and Children’s Centres so that it is community based;

21. Protect the city from vermin by funding the rat control service for a year with work in year to mainstream future funding;

22. Ensure that the remaining unspent allocation for Community Justice Panels is used to make sure that they are working as well as possible before rolling them out more widely.

ENDS

Rob Unwin with Councillors Creasy and Murphy

New information has just been uploaded to our Elections pages about the General Election Candidates and the Local Election Candiadates

Graham Wroe

Dear Editor

Your article “Candidates gearing up for the polls” (14th Jan) does your readers a dis-service in completely ignoring the Green Party. This may have been acceptable when the Greens were a minor party, but we now have 3 Sheffield City Councillors compared to the Conservatives’ total of zero. Surely this should entitle us to equal coverage?

The Greens are gearing up for the General election in Sheffield, and have selected hard working local councillor Jillian Creasy for the Central seat. Central Constituency includes Central Ward, the powerbase of the Greens where we hold all three city council seats. Former Labour Councillor Steve Barnard is standing for the Greens in Hallam, and Gareth Roberts is standing in Heeley.

The Green Party is expecting to make history at the next General Election by sending their first representatives to Westminster. Caroline Lucas is now the bookies’ favourite to win in Brighton Pavillion, Adrian Ramsay has a good chance of unseating former Home Secretary Charles Clarke in Norwich and in Lewisham Deptford Darren Johnson is closely challenging sitting MP Joan Ruddock.

Back in Sheffield the Greens are also preparing for the city council elections, where we hope to increase our current tally of 3 councillors. Rob Unwin will be defending the Central Ward seat and Councillor Bernard Little is campaigning to win a seat in Broomhill. There will be a full slate of Green candidates in all the Sheffield wards.

I hope your future election coverage will be a little more balanced and inclusive.

Yours sincerely

Graham Wroe

Sheffield Green Party

Original Star article

Published Date: 14 January 2010
By Ben Spencer
POLITICIANS
across South Yorkshire are gearing up for what is set to be hardest
fought General Election in years, with the contest focusing on key
battle grounds in Sheffield, Penistone and Stocksbridge.No
date has yet been announced for the vote, but most MPs are preparing
for a May 6 poll with an eye on March 25 or June 3 as alternative dates.

With a possible five months until polling day the main three parties have launched what Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg has predicted will be a “long, grinding election campaign”.

Nationally,the Labour Party is behind in the polls, and in order to avert a
Conservative victory they will have to defend a Tory assault on
constituencies in South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and North
Nottinghamshire – traditionally safe havens for the Labour movement.

Labour  MPs in Doncaster, Rotherham, Barnsley and most of Sheffield are likely to keep their seats, but in the new seat of Penistone and Stocksbridge
the Conservative Party has thrown resources behind candidate Spencer
Pitfield.

Top Tories including party leader David Cameron,former leader William Hague and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi have visited the
constituency Mr Pitfield is standing in over recent months, and massive
Conservative campaign posters have cropped up in Ecclesfield and
Hillsborough.

Mr Pitfield told The Star: “People are ready for change but as a party we need to earn people’s trust. Some of that trust has to be earned by the party, but the majority has to be done by me as a local candidate.

“I hope I can earn that by getting out and supporting local issues.”

Hillsborough MP Angela Smith, who is standing for the new constituency which now takes in Penistone, said: “Neither myself nor my team will take any vote for granted. We have been working very hard to win the support of the people of Penistone and Stocksbridge.

“This as an area has remained loyal to Labour since the 1930s and I see no indication that is going to change.”

Sheffield Central, where veteran Labour MP Richard Caborn is standing down, is being targeted by Lib Dem Sheffield Council leader Paul Scriven.

Coun Scriven said: “I’ve been meeting people in Sheffield Central for the
last two years, and I think this is going to be a very open election.

“I never predict the result of a vote but I have been receiving a very warm reception on the doorstep.”

He is going up against Labour candidate Paul Blomfield, who said: “The
response Labour is getting is much better than the opinion polls would
have you believe. “People want a Government that will secure the
economic recovery, not wreck it. They want jobs and public services
protected, and they don’t want savage and unfair cuts and Tory
tax-handouts for millionaires.”

The Conservatives are also targeting Labour seats in Bassetlaw, North East Derbyshire and the High Peak, where Labour district and county councils have fallen to the Tories in recent years.

Promoted by Eamonn Ward on behalf of Sheffield Green Party, 73 Eskdale Road, Sheffield, S6 1SL