Sunday 3 May 2015

Re-elect Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion – Her Achievements and Parliamentary Voting Record Deserve It


What a fantastic MP Caroline Lucas has been. She has won recognition awards including, being named the 'Most Influential MP' in 2012 by the Political Studies Association, 'MP of the Year' in the Scottish Widows and Dods Women in Public Life Awards 2011, and 'Newcomer of the Year' in the Spectator's 2010 Parliamentarian awards. In 2013 the Patchwork Foundation named Caroline MP of the Year for her work with deprived and minority communities in Brighton and across the country.

And she introduced a Private Member's Bill to re-nationalise our railways.

If you are a voter in Brighton Pavilion, please make sure you re-elect Caroline on Thursday so she can continue her outstanding work as an MP. She would be a grave loss to the House of Commons.

Below is a selection of the way Caroline Lucas, Green MP voted in the last Parliament:

Defence Policy

Voted very strongly against use of UK military forces in combat operations overseas

Voted very strongly against replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapons system

Voted moderately for strengthening the Military Covenant

Welfare and Benefits

Voted strongly against reducing housing benefit for social tenants deemed to have excess bedrooms (which Labour describe as the "bedroom tax") 

Voted very strongly for raising welfare benefits at least in line with prices 

Voted very strongly for paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability Details

Voted very strongly against making local councils responsible for helping those in financial need afford their council tax and reducing the amount spent on such support 

Voted strongly against a reduction in spending on welfare benefits 

Voted moderately for spending public money to create guaranteed jobs for young people who have spent a long time unemployed

Taxation

Voted strongly for increasing the tax rate applied to income over £150,000

Voted very strongly against increasing the rate of VAT

Voted moderately for a banker’s bonus tax 

Voted very strongly for an annual tax on the value of expensive homes (popularly known as a mansion tax) 

Voted very strongly against allowing employees to exchange some employment rights for shares in the company they work for

Business and the Economy

Voted strongly against reducing the rate of corporation tax 

Voted strongly against measures to reduce tax avoidance

Health

Voted strongly for restricting the provision of services to private patients by the NHS Details

Voted strongly against reforming the NHS so GPs buy services on behalf of their patients

Education

Voted strongly against greater autonomy for schools 

Voted very strongly against raising England’s undergraduate tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year Details

Voted moderately against academy schools 

Voted very strongly against ending financial support for some 16-19 year olds in training and further education Details

Voted very strongly against university tuition fees

Constitutional Reform

Voted strongly against reducing central government funding of local government

Voted very strongly for a more proportional system for electing MPs 

Voted moderately for a wholly elected House of Lords

Voted moderately for more powers for local councils

Home Affairs

Voted very strongly against requiring the mass retention of information about communications

Voting record from They Work for You website.




1 comment:

  1. When we consider the reported behaviour of Labour activists in Brighton Pavilion constituency urging Caroline Lucas poster displayers to remove those posters so as not to let in a Tory government, we need to consider the record of Labour councillors in Brighton & Hove council colluding in coalition against a minority Green Party council.

    The record of Labour councillors on Brighton & Hove Council and the desire of Labour activists to make a Green Party MP 'ancient history' perhaps indicates how far Labour is from 'protecting the most vulnerable'. And we must remember that the Blair Government halved the length of jobcentre-funded training periods so as to double the throughput from the dole queue, and Blair installed investment banker David Freud as 'welfare reform guru'. Freud then defected to to Tories and is now their Welfare Reform Minister/Spokesperson.

    Tories eliminated Independent Living Fund for the most severely disabled; Labour have no plans to reinstate it. Greens are pledged to do so.

    'Dude Swheatie of Kwug', blogger for the Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group writing in a personal perspective.

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