The Railway Club is located just opposite Fratton Railway Station. A Map may be found here.

Tim Dawes

Swinging cuts in the public services mean just one thing – tens of thousands of ordinary public service workers made job-less and worsening services for those that need them most. Meanwhile the richest and most able to pay in our society will not even be asked to contribute with higher taxes. The rich will be insulated and the poor will suffer. More inequality in a society already blighted by the consequences of decades when income differentials have got steadily wider. So much for “Liberal” values and “Progressive” policies.

But there is more. Many economists, and not just Green economists, believe there is a real danger that public service cuts will move us into a double-dip recession. With no real plan to invest in new sustainable jobs and training, unemployment is set to rise to levels not seen since the thirties and all this will weaken tax revenues and so put further pressure on public finances. The cuts and unemployment cycle will be a disaster for all of us.

Let’s cut those things we don’t need and don’t create jobs – like for example Trident replacement – and tax those that can pay to allow us to invest in a better and greener future.

Available here

“Dear Sir,

During the recent election campaign in Portsmouth South, I lost count of the times electors told me they much preferred the Green’s policies but had decided to vote Liberal Democrat to “keep out the Tories”.

So now where are we? The Liberal Democrats have utterly betrayed their supporters to prop up a Tory regime which does not represent them. All those voters who turned to Mike Hancock to present a dissenting voice in Parliament from the Tory and Labour consensus over Trident, Tuition Fees, Climate Change, Political Reform, Animal Rights, Civil Rights and reigning in the Bankers, now find that he and his colleges have sold out for a squalid grab at a little piece of power.

Mike Hancock is propping up a government which has appointed someone who has persistently voted against gay rights as Home Secretary & Equality Minster and a Chairwomen who published Homophobic attacks in her campaign materials. This is a government with numerous senior figures with shadows still cast over the names by the expenses scandal and a PM who wants to bring back fox hunting, plans massive cuts to public services and will attack public sector pensions, unemployment benefits and Child Tax Credits. And, almost incredibly, they have agreed to renew Trident at a cost of £97billion. This despite Nick Clegg himself describing the Tories other new alliance partners, those in Europe, as “a bunch of nutters, anti-Semites, people who deny climate change exists and homophobes”.

There is only one choice for progressive politics now – the Green Party. Progressives should watch carefully what the new Green MP, Caroline Lucas, does in parliament. Do please compare and contrast. I appeal to all those of a progressive mind in Portsmouth who have supported the Liberal Democrats to tear up their party cards and come and join the Green Party. We can start now to build an honest progressive force in local politics. God knows this City needs that.”

To see more of what the Green Party Stands for or to join us, click here.

Key areas include

• Reform to the Banking System
• Protecting the NHS
• Deccent Pensions
• Affordable housing
• A living wage and Jobs

You can watch the full launch at the BBC here, or read the news story here.

You can read the Manifesto and explore Green Party policy here.

“The current level of pensions is inadequate,” adds Portsmouth North candidate, Iain Maclennan, “and the means-tested Pension Credits system discriminates against people who have saved for their retirement. Under a Green government, every pensioner would receive a Citizen’s Pension of £170 per week for a single person, and £300 for a couple, as part of our fully-costed programme for the economy. This level rises along with average earnings, which doesn’t happen at the moment.”

Portsmouth Pensioners Association are holding an election hustings next month to discuss policies towards pensioners – but at the moment they have only invited representatives from the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats to take part. “The city’s pensioners need to know that there is one party that is backing them to the hilt,” says Tim Dawes, “and that’s the Green Party.”

Iain Maclennan says: “The blatant discrimination against older people by the ‘Fleet and Firkin’ pub in Portsmouth shows how much institutional ageism exists in our supposedly democratic society. It’s a shame that the Portsmouth Pensioners’ Association won’t be opening their doors to the staunchly pro-pensioner Green Party. But regardless of their decision, the local Green Party will remain solidly in support of Portsmouth pensioners.”