Westgate by-election - Richard Moriarty GREEN PARTY

Richard Moriarty works for a local conservation charity and is very engaged with conservation issues throughout the UK and abroad but is also someone who cares very deeply about the people and the place where he lives and works, and that is why over the last few years he has become increasingly involved in politics.

Richard has quite a varied background, having been a teacher, a chief executive of three charities, set up a community interest company; that is a company set up not to make a profit but to give back everything it makes to the people it serves, and when it was up and running he gave it to those people for them to run it themselves.

Richard thinks outside of the box having worked with property owners who were selling up their properties, to enable them to keep the properties but use them differently, setting up a community project that helped not only charities but also small start-up businesses and to provide volunteering positions.

Richard has worked with long-term unemployed people in an innovative project to coach them into the sort of work that they were interested in doing, instead of them being pushed into jobs just for the sake of statistics, and the project was 100% successful with all the people involved moving into jobs, training or education towards their own goal.

Richard believes in doing politics a different way, as a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist, he understands only too well the need to listen to people and the need to help them make the changes that will benefit their own lives. Richard thinks that as a local political party we need to adopt that approach with our Morecambe community.

Richard says “We need to be there to support our community so that they can achieve for themselves the things they want to achieve and that means we need to listen to them”.  

Richard wants to see the Green Party in Morecambe providing drop-in sessions, where you can come and talk to him and other members directly about your issues; regardless of his being elected or not.

Richard says “The local Green Party can be the power that petitions elected counsellors; holds them to their promises and then confirms to you what we have asked the councillors to do. We will follow up on our petitioning and hold the elected members of our councils and our MPs to what they promise. We need to be seen to be communicating effectively with people throughout the area.  We as members of the Green Party are here to work with other people, those who are elected and those who are not, regardless of their political views, so that we can work together to provide the best for our constituents and for the area as a whole. That might mean working with people who have very opposing views to ourselves – that’s fine, the world would be very boring if we all thought the same way, and working together might move us all towards better compromises and better action rather than simply trying to oppose each other.”

Richard believes that we need to be representing those who generally get the least representation.

“Disabled people – are not disabled,” he says “they have different abilities and needs – we all do – they are only disabled when, as a community, we don’t make the necessary adjustments that they need. We need to support services for disabled and differently abled people.”

“Children – don’t have much of a voice for themselves; although parents may disagree, but I’m talking about politically, we need to speak up for them and for parents who are struggling; we need to provide, support, and maintain effective children’s services and to ensure that the children living in poverty in our area get the support and help that they need.”

“Homeless people – when you have nothing, you appreciate any help that you can get but you may not have the confidence to ask for it – we need to be their voice too.”

“We need to put in place and continue to support services to help the neediest in our communities. We need to look at the need for social housing and how we can provide that by developing carefully but creatively, the brownfield sites in the area whilst protecting our greenfield sites.”

When it comes to elderly people, Richard says “I’ve seen too many times where elderly people are let down through lack of care services and support. My family struggled recently for weeks trying to find a nursing home for my mother. We need to help build and maintain services for elderly people and be their voice too. We will all be old eventually and we need to ensure a quality of life, care and dignity for all old people.”

And Richard has strong views about jobs too. “We need to support small businesses and start-ups;” he says “if we want to reduce people on benefits we need to give them another option and where there are only a few jobs available then the only other option is new start-up businesses and these people need real help if they are to get off the ground.”

“We need more social housing, more care services for children, elderly, disabled and homeless people” he says “and we can work, not just with politicians, but with churches and community groups, schools, colleges, universities, care homes and individuals and give them the opportunity to work with us, to discuss with us and to join us in working towards a demanding common task; I’m part of a community that believes a demanding common task is what builds and maintains a community – I believe that it does and for us as a Green Party in Morecambe I believe our demanding common task is to be there for our community, to walk alongside them, talk to them, listen to their needs and their hopes for the future and to support them to bring it about.”

I want to see better public transport links.
I want to see the regeneration of Morecambe as a tourist destination.
I want to see new jobs for our young people and will promote and support new start-ups.
I feel that we need better representation on our City and Town councils - a stronger voice for Morecambe and the villages North of the river and that is why I am standing for seats on the Lancaster City Council and on Morecambe Town council.
I promise to be that strong voice, to stand up for our local area, to support regeneration and development of local businesses.
I promise to support our local care services, the welfare of those in need,our young people and to oppose fracking and austerity.
PLEASE give me the chance VOTE GREEN for your local City and Town councils.
The GREEN PARTY has grown to over 70,000 members in just a few months - there is a reason for that - INTEGRITY.
YES - I have a manifesto - I want people to know what I stand for.
YES - I am a real candidate, a local person standing up for their local area.
YES - I believe we can change the world one bit at a time.
That is why I will be voting GREENPARTY in the General and Local elections - will you join me and be the change you want to see happen?

What makes a good Councillor?

In all honesty - being a human being, and that means caring enough to take time out of a busy life to make the changes you want to see happen.
I'm not a great entrepreneur, I have been in successful business for many years, but I am anything but rich. I have worked for the third sector (charities) for those many years - because I care about people.
I now work for another charity that looks after the environment and I want to see both people and the planet respected and protected.

There are many places and people who need help and I do what I can to the best of my ability. I put myself on the front line for people who have little or who need the community to enable them instead of classing them as disabled. I want to see a world that cares about everyone not just how much money a few people can pocket.

The world needs to change and it has to start with that small quiet voice inside each and every one of us that screams out on occasion "That is not fair".

It is not right that the rich get richer at the expense of the poor, it is not right that they get richer at the expense of the planet and future generations.

I might not have the ability to change the world but if I can make it better for just one person, or one animal or one river the I will have succeeded to make change happen, and if we all do that we can make the world a better place.

Confetti Councils

Have you seen how many candidates are standing for your local city council and town council elections?

There are a huge number of nominations that have been put forward as candidates for the various parties, but many of them are what are called paper candidates - in other words they have been asked by their party to stand without any intention of them being elected. 

They are there to let voters register their protest votes outside of the general election.

You can guarantee that they would not exist if, like they do for the general election, they had to put a £500 deposit down to stand. 

There is, however, a problem with this trick in an election - you might end up with a confetti council - a council made up of paper candidates that do not really want the job.

If paper candidates are elected they will not actually want to represent the ward that they are standing for. unless they live there.

I do hope that you will vote but please be careful that you consider who you vote for very carefully. 

The only way to get real representation in your local councils is to vote for people who live in the ward and who are actually prepared to be elected. 

Here in Bare you have the option to vote for Green Party candidates in the General, City and Town elections and the nice thing is that these are real local people who are willing to listen to your concerns and who are willing to do the job that they are standing for.

Please do not waste your vote - vote wisely by voting for a real candidate - otherwise our council chambers may end up filled with paper candidates which will only be good for confetti.

Do we need to bring local politics into the 21st century?

When it comes to local politics it is often the case that we hear nothing about what is happening except when there is a general election. I have asked several people about the work of their local councillors to get the same reply - we don't really know what they do!

Surely in this day and age it is not unreasonable for us to expect to be able to find out what our councillors do and to be able to contact them easily instead of having to take time off work to visit them at their convenience.

I believe that now is the time for openness and modern thinking, combined with the best use of social media, email, telephone and the internet so that people can keep in touch with their councillors and be informed about the important things in the locality.

I was asked today about how I would go about my campaigning - would I knock on doors and then find out what people's issues were and then call back to see them. My answer was - not normally, unless the person was not able to use modern technology or was not happy doing so.

This was not to dismiss the importance of anybody's issues but a practical point - if I take time to visit everybody I talk to who identifies an issue and then have to visit them again with information - then it means that I spend an awful lot of time travelling (not to mention the expense and the carbon footprint involved) whereas if at the initial chat I give them my email, facebook, telephone and web accounts then they can stay in touch with me easily and be informed about the work that I am doing. That means that I will have more time to work on their issues and that they can contact me at any time day or night and I can respond when I am available to do so.

Of course, I will always be happy to call round if that is what people prefer as long as they realise that calling has to fit in with everything else that I have to do.

Using modern technology in this way can save time, inform people much easier, bring the work of local councillors into the public view and help to save the planet too - and that is what we are all .about - it is common sense really

How important is your vote?

When it comes to changing how we do things in this country how important is your vote and how many votes do you have?

Does that seem like a strange question?

Maybe it does, because many people think that they have one vote and that there is only one election happening on May 7th but that is not the case. In fact, people in Morecambe could have up to seven or more votes to cast next month depending upon where they live.

For example, if you live in the northern part of Bare you will have one vote for your MP as everyone knows but you will also have another six votes to cast as well.

There are City Council elections happening on the same day and there are three seats available for candidates standing in Bare. so electors in this ward will have three votes available to them to elect  local Lancaster City Councillors.

Then there are three seats available on the Morecambe Town Council too - so electors have three votes for their local Parish Councillors as well.

So every person in the Morecambe Bare North ward has seven votes that they can use to change the political system where they live.

I am standing for the City Council and the Morecambe Parish Council and would really appreciate your support if you live in my ward here in Bare.

The Green Party have 21 candidates standing in the City Council election so this is a fantastic time to make the changes you want to see at a local level as well as at a national level.

Please take the opportunity to use your votes, with so many available to each person it is your chance to make a real difference - if you don't vote you can guarantee that other people will and you will end up with their choice of candidate - that might not be what you want or expect at all!