Norwich Council Update

The background to this is covered well by Rupert Read. Essentially a Court decision has removed a third of the city councillors, with byelections now pending and potentially taking place on the 9th September (although no date is yet known).


Firstly, congratulations to Samir Jeraj, who has become our Green Group leader in Norwich albeit under unusual circumstances. Secondly commisserations to the councillors (of all parties) removed in what are ridiculous circumstances. My friend and now former councillor, Howard Jago, has seen his sole source of income removed and is now another one of the many people looking for work.

What this means is that we now face local elections in Norwich with a very strong chance of becoming the largest party on the city council. Adrian Ramsay, our Deputy Leader and the rest of the Norwich team are gearing up for some incredibly hard campaigning and will welcome help from outside the city.

And why should people be voting for the Greens in Norwich, as opposed to Labour or Lib Dem. Well on Norfolk County Council, only the Greens tried to stop the cuts in local services, from Rupert Read again:

"The term 'Oppposition Councillors' in this article is a little misleading, when in fact LibDems didn't really challenge the cuts (after all, they are part of the 'savage cuts' governing coalition), and no Labour councillors even bothered to turn up! Ie all this was Green work. Well done the Green Party County Councillors!"

While we didn't win a seat in Norwich South at the General Election, there are a lot of dissatisfied ex Lib Dem voters out there. A lot of them will be voting for us.

5th May 2011

The announcement has been made. The referendum on AV is to be held on the same day as local elections in England, the Scottish Parliamentary election and the Welsh Assembly.

For anyone who wants the run down on AV, the Electoral Reform Society website gives a good run down.