They can say whatever they like in opposition, but when they are elected they lose any scruples and bend to big business. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
Green Party councillors have also done the same in Brighton (source 1), where they backed the privatisation of housing and in Germany (source 2), where they voted through cuts to services. The Greens operate according to anarchist principles - each branch can do its own thing and there is no central command. The result is a mish-mash of policies and a tendency towards coalition politics.
If you want a party that sticks to its principles and is uncorruptible - vote for Joe Higgins and the Socialist Party.
Source on Brighton below:
Tenants won't accept outright privatisation
The Green Party published a statement saying that tenants had shown a 'clear preference for an ALMO' [ Arms Length Management Organisation - i.e. privatisation by the back door]. I asked Green Party councillor Bill Randall how they'd determined that tenants favoured an ALMO - he told me it was from 'official council surveys'. According to the local government UNISON branch the response rate to this survey was so low as to make it statistically meaningless.
The Socialist Party has been petitioning door-to-door on the estates against housing privatisation and has attended and helped organise meetings where the issues are explained to tenants. Practically every tenant we have spoken to wants to remain with the council.
This shows how easily the Green Party have been sucked into the system. They couldn't think outside the three options put forward by the government and they endorsed the dubious methods by which the council collects information on 'tenants' preference'.
Thanks to the pressure of the campaign and the opposition of council tenants, the council have (along with the Greens) done a complete u-turn. They have agreed to send a letter to John Prescott demanding that the fourth option be made available.
|
Linear Mode
