The Harrow Times has asked each parliamentary candidate to list five reasons why they should become an MP at the General Election on May 7.
Here the Green Party’s candidate for Brent North Scott Bartle explains why you should vote for him.
1) Education: As someone who left school aged 15 I recognise its time to end the misguided idea that children are all the same and as such progress the same. We will be responsive to the needs of children as human beings rather than profit. It is for this reason we’re against academies and the creation of titan schools. We will work towards reducing class sizes to 20 and free teachers of paperwork to allow them to teach on their own terms and restore creativity to the classroom.
2) Tax Dodgers to Fund NHS & Social Care: Trillions are lost through tax avoidance across the EU. Pharmacy chain Boots alone has dodged a billion pounds in tax on income it has mainly made through our NHS. As the only candidate who works in the NHS, a vote for the Green Party would be for a crackdown and this money spent on funding the NHS and social care.
3) Stop the War on the Poor: Cuts have contributed to rising inequality with a third of children in Brent living in poverty and half who receive social care feeling unsafe. Greens will double child benefit, double carers allowance, end benefit sanctions and the bedroom tax as well as provide free social care to people over 65.
4) Migration: As a Cornishman, I’m from a part of Great Britain that spends most of its time looking out to sea. It was said that anywhere in the world with a hole in the ground, you’d find a Cornishman at the bottom of it. Greens recognise migration is relational to people’s life circumstances and has a natural ebb and flow like the tide. We are proud to be diverse and inclusive and our policies aim to reduce inequalities between nations and regions to make it attractive for people to live, work and create a community wherever they wish to be.
5) Save Our Planet: It’s hard to think of healing the planet when it’s hard to heat your home – so we will do both. We’ll insulate homes, saving money on heating and creating jobs, and cut emissions by providing cheaper public, transport and make cycling and walking safer, as well as easier.
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