Greens have a new health policy

Fantastic news just in, the vast majority of amendments to our health policy were passed and we now have a brand new policy to go into the general election with. Thank you to everyone who helped pull this together over the last nine months and who helped get it through on the conference floor.

We have gone for a far more evidence based approach to health care, making sure it is the experts that decide which treatments are cost effective for which conditions rather than politicians. We have strengthened the framework for protecting the public with wider regulation to ensure all medicines are safe and all health care practitioners are regulated.

We have got a new model for primary care to prevent the continued privatisation of GP surgeries and to place them into democratic public / patient ownership. This is radical stuff and sets us far apart from the other privatising parties, i.e. Lib Dems, Tories and Labour.

A strong committment to dignity and compassion plus real support for the benefits of breast feeding. Dental care not mass medication by fluoride.

Spring Conference

I have had two exhausting days working on the health policy initially presenting, discussing and debating the revisals at workshops and then proposing and debating them in the main plenary. We nearly finished it yesterday, but there are a few left to get voted on this morning. Hopefully by midday we'll have a shiny new health policy! I'll publish more details when it is passed.

Managed to see Kate Pickett and Johann Hari speaking on equality. A fantastic hour stuffed with information, insight, tears and laughter (Johann is very funny). I finally bought Kate's book The Spirit Level, but have been following her work through The Equality Trust for some time.

Also passed at conference was a motion limiting the pay differentials in companies to a maximum of 10, i.e. the highest earner in a company couldn't earn more than ten times the lowest paid person. Personnally I think we could of gone a little further, maybe as low as 7, but it is still radical and welcome!

Green with envy :-)

Having to miss my first Green Party conference for a while. Sadly for me, this one looks fantastic with information on campaigns, a workshop on health democracy, motions for debate (one of which I proposed but can't now speak to), and so on. Hope people have a good time! Ian and Robin are fronting the Maidstone contingency this time.

Caroline's speech looks superb, especially the comment on slavery...

This is from the Beeb this morning:

Climate change is "the greatest threat to humanity", Ms Lucas will add, saying: "They say it's up to us - do your bit, act on CO2, we're in it together.

"No wonder people are confused. The greatest threat this country faces - up there with international terrorism, the rise of Fascism in the 1930s.

And the government is telling us to change our light bulbs and turn our washing down to 30 degrees."

Ministers must "take the lead", she will say.

Ms Lucas will add: "What if William Wilberforce had said 'Yes, we know slavery is wrong but we have to think of the economy. So could you just cut down a bit? Own one slave instead of two?'

"When Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich and waved that scrap of paper promising peace in our time, at least he believed it.

"Fool that he was, he honestly thought that he had reached a deal with Adolf Hitler. What excuse do our current leaders have?

"Labour have had nearly 12 years in power. And they have done nothing."

Landmark day at Green Party Conference

On Friday Caroline Lucas and Adrian Ramsay were elected the first leader and deputy leaders of the Green Party. Yesterday Caroline gave one of the most rousing speeches that I have ever heard.

She told the conference: "Just three companies - BP, Centrica and Shell - together made £1,000 profit every second over the first six months of this year.

"These corporations are robbing from the poor to give to the rich and they know it. And it's about time they learned that, in a progressive democracy, there is no place for robber barons."

Gratuitous photo of Caroline and me:

There are still a few people in the party who don't like leaders, but I have never been more certain that The Green Party has done the right thing electing Caroline and Adrian.

Caroline's speech came straight after a panel session on the Green New Deal with Ann Pettifor, Colin Hines, Jeremy Leggett and Tony Juniper. Amazingly inspirational, the deal calls for nationalisation of money creation (currently in the hands of banks) and the rapid creation of a green industry to reduce our carbon dependency.

Keeping people warm, reducing their fuel bills, providing jobs and stabalising the economy are just a few of the many positive outcomes suggested by the GND.

Green Party Conference start today

In the next hour I shall be off to possibly the most exciting GP conference we have had. This evening at 8pm our first leader and deputy leader (hopefully Caroline and Adrian) will be announced. We already punch above our weight in the media and this bold step, that has had a few vocal opponents, should help us get the message across even more:

BUSINESS AS USUAL CANNOT CONTINUE!

The right wing politics of our three major parties has continued to widen the poverty gap. Food and fuel prices are sky rocketing hitting the poor and middle income families the hardest while the rich get richer.

We need social justice.
We need community values.
We need an effective government.
We need a sustainable future.

We need Green politics and we need Green leadership.

Conference and Kingsnorth Six

Tomorrow sees the start of the Green Party conference in London. I love these conferences anyway, but this one should be especially exciting as tomorrow the party elects its first leader.

We also have a panel with Ken Livingstone, a showing of the Age of Stupid, a fringe with Peter Tatchell, a blogging fringe with JimJay, and a host of policy to discuss. It is open to members and visitors so I'd encourage everyone to make an effort to get there.

I will also try to follow the Kingsnorth Six on trial here in Maidstone too. Yesterday my friend Geoff Meaden gave evidence for the defence followed by James Hansen. The trial's defence is based around reasonable cause for the direct action against Kingsnorth and could be ground breaking progress if Greenpeace win. I think Al Gore is on record as saying that he can't understand why the young people are not all marching in the streets and blockading coal powerstation for the destruction of their future.

Green politics has never been more necessary.