Eight candidates are standing for election to Parliament to represent the Brighton Pavilion constituency on Thursday 4 July 2024.
The eight candidates are Steve AI (Independent), Siân Berry (Green), Carl Buckfield (SDP), Tom Gray (Labour), Mark Mulvihill (Reform UK), Ashley Ridley (Liberal Democrat), Citizen Skwith (Official Monster Raving Loony) and Sarah Webster (Conservative).
Each candidate answered questions submitted by voters. Here are the answers from the Green candidate Siân Berry, 49, a community campaigner, who tweets @SianBerry. She posts on Instagram as @sian_berry and on TikTok as @sianberrygreen and her Facebook page is Siân Berry Green.
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Why do you want to be an MP and how are you qualified for the role?
It’s a critical moment. Climate change poses an existential threat.
We face an inequality crisis with millions falling deeper and deeper into poverty.
In Brighton, so many are struggling to cope and the local services we rely on are at breaking point.
I want to champion and support people in this community and push the next government to go further and invest properly in both people and planet.
Having spent my life campaigning, including as an independent campaigner and for a national charity, I’ve learnt to use different political levers and tactics to build pressure, drive movements and secure change.
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If elected, how would you deal with performance and pricing problems in privatised utilities such as the water companies, railways, energy companies and the Royal Mail?
I believe in public services being owned by the public. As your MP, I’d campaign for real change so our utilities are run for public benefit not profit – starting with the water companies and the big 5 energy retailers.
This is what Greens have pledged to do in our manifesto and we are the only party in England prepared to take this commonsense bold action.
We want to urgently stop sewage being dumped in our seas and rivers, and households being ripped off with high energy bills, by making the companies answerable to the public not shareholders.
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What would you do to help people who are struggling to rent or buy a home? Should second homes or Airbnb-style holiday lets be banned?
As a renter living in Brighton, I’ve experienced the housing crisis first-hand and am passionate about taking the heat out of the housing market to bring rent and house prices down.
So that’s new genuinely affordable homes, in the right places at the right price, and ending the “right to buy” so our community doesn’t lose the investment that goes into building council homes.
And I’ll champion controls on rent levels, ending “no fault” evictions, action on Airbnb-style lets, like limits on how long they can be rented out, and a universal right to a warm dry home.
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What steps would you take to improve hospital performance, community care and access to GPs for patients in Brighton and Hove?
The Green Party has put restoring the NHS front and centre of our election promises – including investment in primary care so you can get a same-day doctor’s appointment when its urgent and rapid access at other times.
We’d guarantee you can see an NHS dentist and prioritise reducing hospital waiting lists, paying NHS staff properly to help retain their expertise and giving hospital trusts long-term funding certainty, so they can better plan to deliver better care for us all.
If elected, I’d passionately oppose any plans from a new Labour government to let private companies run health services.
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Events in Israel and Gaza have affected many members of the community here. What can people in your constituency expect you to say and do as an MP?
This is something so many residents tell me matters to them and I am so proud of the consistent principled stand taken by the Greens – on condemning terrorism, calling for the unconditional release of all hostages, demanding an urgent bilateral ceasefire, on ending UK arms sales to the Israeli army, urging the UK to properly fund humanitarian aid in Gaza and to find a political solution that delivers peace, justice and security for Israelis and Palestinians going forward.
I’m also deeply committed to healing the divisions that have arisen in our community as a result of this war.
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Do you support the Royal Mail plans for Patcham Court Farm despite the threat posed to the aquifer there that provides much of the drinking water for Brighton and Hove?
In a word – no. I’ve met local residents to listen to their concerns and why they are against Royal Mail’s plans.
Everything they said made the risks clear so I’ve lodged a formal objection with the council and urged them to reject the proposal.
The city’s water supply is far too precious to gamble with. But it’s not just the aquifer. The application is riddled with discrepancies and the proposals may not even be lawful.
Bosses at Royal Mail also need to get their act together, sort out local deliveries and stop running our precious postal services into the ground.
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Polling stations are due to be open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 4 July. Photo ID is required for those voting in person.
If Sian loses on July 4th, I wonder which current Green Party city councillor will step down to make way for her?
Any party that thinks it is acceptable to indoctrinate small children and stand them in a front line of political campaigning on the street with political placards during a General Election is not going to get any support from me.
The Hintalovon Child Rights Foundation campaigns against this and I urge everyone to go to Childhub.org and understand what the Greens are doing here is beyond despicable. Childhub is supported by The Oak Foundation and the European Commission.
Childs Rights 101 for Politicians:
THE MINIMUM RULES FOR CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS:
A child cannot be a tool to achieve political goals.
A child’s participation cannot be decided by adults.
Active involvement of a child supposes that they are of a certain age and of adequate maturity; children under the age of 14 are not to be involved in political communications under any circumstances.
Do not use children as decorations: children are considered a decoration if they are not present because of their knowledge or opinion, but merely because they are children, and this fact in the given situation is making the event or the actions of the politician appear in a positive light.
Children are not the target audience of political campaigns.
The manipulation of children is forbidden. The direct—by the school or parents—and indirect influence of children in order to reach political goals, such as winning votes, is strictly forbidden.
Kindergartens and schools are no place for party politics.
Politicians should not visit educational establishments during campaign periods; at other times they should only accept invitations if it is for the support of public education, and if they do not use this to propagate their political actions.
Politicians should not send any gifts to children, their parents, or those working in public education, or offer any other advantages, except if it is anonymous and cannot be connected to them.
Politicians should not accept gifts or greetings from children, educational or public care organisations, parents or public educational institutions.
Politicians should not take photos with children, and should not support the public use of these images. Every occasion when a politician meets a child and is publicly photographed is considered a campaign action and entails the imposition of a fine.
Do not use children’s personal data or image. Do not make and share recordings where the children involved have not given their consent. This is not allowed in cases where the child is under the age of 14, even if the child or their legal guardian has consented to it. They also cannot use the images of children from photo-sharing websites, especially if the child in the photo is thought to be under the age of 16.
Respect the civil rights of children: children have the right to participate in local and public matters that concern them.
Avoid displaying children in a negative light and refrain from using hostile language or language that could result in incitement to hatred, or the visual representation of said things. Under any circumstances, do not communicate anything regarding children that might violate their dignity or their right to a private life, disclosure of information or freedom of expression.