CAROLINE LUCAS

HOW WOULD CAROLINE LUCAS ADDRESS BLUE GROWTH, CLIMATE CHANGE and AFFORDABLE HOUSING in BRIGHTON for a CIRCULAR ECONOMY ?

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CAROLINE LUCAS

Caroline Lucas was first elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the South East England Region at the 1999 elections, the first year the election was by proportional representation. In that year the Green Party gained 7.4% of the vote (110,571 votes). In November 2001, she was convicted of a breach of the peace at the Faslane nuclear base in Scotland the previous February and fined £150 for her participation in a CND sit-down protest. Conducting her own defence at the trial, she pleaded not guilty. Lucas argued that she had a right under the Human Rights Act to peaceful protest following on from her firm anti-nuclear attitudes. Faslane is the base used for Britain's Trident nuclear programme. She was arrested for a protest at the same location in 2007. "It still seems ironic that it is a non-violent demonstration that is judged to be a breach of the peace, rather than Britain's illegal and immoral possession of nuclear weapons", she wrote at the time.

Lucas was re-elected in 2004, gaining 173,351 votes (8% share), and again in the 2009 election when the party's vote under the list system rose to 271,506, or 11.6%. In the European Parliament, she was a member of the Committee for Trade, Industry, Energy and Research; the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy; the Committee on International Trade; and the Temporary Committee on Climate Change.

Lucas was an early signatory of the International Simultaneous Policy (SIMPOL) which seeks to end the usual deadlock in tackling global issues. Lucas became a signatory in June 2004. In addition, she is or has been Vice-President of the Animal Welfare Intergroup, a member of Intergroups on Peace Issues and Consumer Affairs, a member of the Parliament's Delegation to ACP (African Caribbean, and Pacific) Countries, and a member of the Delegation for Relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council. As part of her committee work, she was the Parliament's Rapporteur (draftsperson) on a Commission Communication on the impact of air transport on the environment, and the Vice-President of the parliament's committee of inquiry into foot-and-mouth disease.

In July 2008, Lucas joined the Green New Deal Group, an alliance of experts in finance, energy and the environment. The group put forward plans to invest in green energy, provide greater regulation of the finance sector, and strengthen ties between environmentalists, industry, agriculture, and trade unions. The proposals were put forth in response to fears over the recession, climate change, and increasing energy prices, and stressed the need for integrative policies towards tackling all three.

She held the party's post of Female Principal Speaker from 2003 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2008.

GREEN PARTY LEADER 2008 - 2012

Lucas was elected as the Green Party's first leader on 5 September 2008, gaining 92% of the vote (against one other candidate, Ashley Gunstock) on a turnout of 38%. Previously the party had operated under a collective leadership. The change "was about having a face the country recognises - or hopefully", she told Decca Aitkenhead in 2009, "comes to recognise. It was in recognition of the fact that people don't really relate to abstract ideas, they relate more to the people who embody them." Lucas was elected as the Green Party's first-ever MP (for Brighton Pavilion) at the general election of 2010.

In July 2010, Lucas expressed her support for seven campaigners of the Smash EDO campaign who had caused approximately £180,000 damage to an EDO MBM arms factory and were acquitted of conspiring to cause criminal damage. The jury accepted their defence of lawful excuse – action undertaken to prevent a much worse crime – because the company manufactured and sold certain components used by the Israeli military, notably in its assault on Gaza. Lucas stated that: "I am absolutely delighted the jury has recognised that the actions of the decommissioners were a legitimate response to the atrocities being committed in Gaza. I do not advocate non-violent direct action lightly ... [but] their actions were driven by the responsibility to prevent further suffering in Gaza."

On 14 May 2012, Lucas announced she would be standing down as leader as of September 2012 "in order to broaden opportunities for the range of talent in the party and to raise the profiles of others aspiring to election". She added "I'm proud that during the four years of my term, we've moved Green politics forward to a higher level, with the party by far the most influential it has ever been".

ABOUT CAROLINE

Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician, and since 2 September 2016, Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, a position she shares with Jonathan Bartley. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election, when she became the Green Party's first MP. She was re-elected in the 2015 and 2017 general elections with an increased majority.

Born in Malvern in Worcestershire, Lucas graduated from the University of Exeter and the University of Kansas before receiving a PhD from the University of Exeter in 1989. She joined the Green Party in 1986 and held various party roles, also serving on Oxfordshire County Council from 1993 to 1997. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and 2009, also serving as the Party's Female Principal Speaker from 2003 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2008.

Lucas was elected the first Leader of the Green Party in 2008 and was elected to represent the constituency of Brighton Pavilion in the 2010 general election. She stood down as party leader in 2012 to devote more time to her parliamentary duties and focus on an ultimately successful campaign to be re-elected as an MP. She returned to a party leadership role in September 2016, when she was elected as Co-Leader as part of a job-sharing arrangement with Jonathan Bartley.

She is known as a campaigner and writer on green economics, localisation, alternatives to globalisation, trade justice, animal welfare and food. In her time as a politician and activist, she has worked with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and think-tanks, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Oxfam.

UN AGENDAS - With Blue Growth and the Climate Change Act 2008 firmly in the political map, we wonder how the Brighton MP might face the challenges ahead.

Julienne Stroeve, a climate scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, told Sputnik News about the changes taking place in the Arctic Ocean and what exactly this bodes for us in the foreseeable future. “The changes are the largest in the summertime, but they are actually happening during all months of the year. I think the key things we really need to understand is, first, the natural climate variability and, second, changes caused by increased human activity. At the current rate of carbon emissions of about 35 to 40 gigatons a year, we are estimating that the Arctic could become ice-free within the next 20 years,” Dr. Stroeve said. “What we need to do [to avoid this] is to pressure the governments to move off the path of fossil-based economy to the use of more reusable energy. It is essential to mitigate [the impact of global warming],” she emphasized.

What we are sure that Caroline is just as concerned about as we are (as a pescetarian) is Climate Change that creates acid oceans and carcinogenic hazes over many countries when the sun is shining brightly. It follows that she will be worried about Marine Litter when she discovers (and probably already has) that plastic is the ocean is being eaten by the fish that we eat. That being the case, fish loaded with toxins cannot be good for the health of our nation or the state of our National Health Service in the long term.

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CONTACT

Caroline's ‘surgery’ is held every week or so at her offices at Werks Central, though you can request a special audience if you feel that is appropriate:

Caroline Lucas
Constituency Office
Werks Central
15-17 Middle Street
Brighton, BN1 1AL

Tel: 01273 201130
Emails: caroline.lucas.mp@parliament.uk

brightonoffice@parliament.uk

LINKS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Lucas

https://www.carolinelucas.com/

CAROLINE ANSELL - CAROLINE LUCAS - CHARLES CLARKE - CHARLES HENDRY - CHRIS GRAYLING - DAVID BLUNKETT

DAVID CAMERON - DAVID MILIBAND - ERIC PICKLES - GEOFFREY JOHNSON-SMITH - GEORGE OSBORNE - GORDON BROWN

GREG CLARK - GREGORY BARKER - JACK STRAW - JOHN GUMMER - JOHN PRESCOTT - KENNETH CLARKE - KIM HOWELLS DR

MARGARET BECKETT - MARGARET THATCHER - MARIA CAULFIELD - NICK CLEGG - NORMAN BAKER - NUS GHANI - PATRICIA HEWITT

PHILIP DUNNE - PHILIP HAMMOND - SAJID JAVID - STEPHEN LLOYD - TERESA MAY - TESSA JOWELL - TONY BLAIR - VINCE CABLE

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