We were over the moon to receive 1.5% of the votes last Thursday. This means that 815 people in East Devon voted GREEN and I would like to personally thank each and every person for voting for the GREEN option on election day, a GREEN option which has long been missing off the ballot papers here in East Devon.

We’d love to hear from as many of the 815 as possible. Please add your comments below.

We only set up the new East Devon Green Party group in January 2010 and have some wonderful dedicated people (members & non-members) in the group across the areas of Sidmouth, Ottery St Mary, Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Honiton, Seaton and Axminster. Our next meeting is on Saturday 12th June 2pm to 4pm at Twyford House in Sidmouth, all welcome. We’re a very friendly bunch, and would love to meet you and welcome you to our group.

Photos: That’s me at the top with my four year old Aleck outside our polling station in Membury and Aleck doing the honours with my ballot paper below.

I have been receiving good luck messages by email, Facebook and twitter so I thought I’d start off this thread so you can all add your comments below. Let’s bring together all this positive GREEN energy in one place.

Can I just take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has played a part in this election campaign – from designing the election literature, to handing out leaflets, staffing stalls, walking round in the rain (and sun!), putting posters up and putting postcards though doors. Thank you to the people who helped me prepare for the public debates, came to support them and then ferried me home afterwards! Thank you for the help writing newspaper articles, press releases and taking photos, making videos etc. Thanks for all the work involved in preparing and running our public meetings and thank you to everyone who has kindly donated money to fund our campaign. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make our fundraising curry night (below) such an amazing success and thank you to everyone who came along, enjoyed the food, company and helped us raise £160!

Thank you to the East Devon Green Party TEAM, you are all superstars! – Bee, Diana, Lesley, Ana, Michael, Mark, Paul, Cathy, Cherry, Kerry, Emily, Miriam, Mike, Anya, John, Roger, Ruth, Andy and Michele. Special thanks to Geoff, who had to deal with all the reams of election paperwork and press and Sharon H for being the most wonderful support all along the way from that first coffee and chat in Honiton last Christmas! We did it!

Thank you to my wonderful husband Daniel and my two children Natasha and Aleck for putting up with mummy dashing off here, there and everywhere over the past few weeks. Thank you also to my lovely mother in law Sue (aka Mum 2) for helping with the children and ferrying me about.

Thanks everyone – please add your vote to http://www.exmouthpeople.co.uk too if you have a minute.

Don’t forget to add your comment below….and if you are interested in getting involved with the local elections (even just to help) please click here to find out more.

The students have released their election campaigns – being allowed to use present or previous policies from the party they are representing – and now, before Thursday, it is up to the student leaders to convince people to vote for their party. I’ll be at King’s tomorrow to support Oscar and make sure he has all the Green literature that he needs to secure as many Green votes as possible. I might also be popping over on election day to say hello & chat about the Green Party. We would like to start a ‘Young Green’s’ group here in East Devon and this school election is a great opportunity to raise student awareness about politics. You can join Oscar’s Facebook page here.

Here’s a link to the Facebook page for the East Devon Green Party & you can email us at eastdevongreens@googlemail.com if you would like to go on our email list and be kept informed of meetings, events etc.

This is an email I received this morning. PAD (Protecting Animals in Democracy) have endorsed me as THE candidate to vote for in East Devon on Thursday if you want to protect millions of animals from the cruelty of bloodsports, intensive farming and experiments.

Brilliant news!

Dear Sharon

Thank you very much for responding to the Protecting Animals in Democracy policy questionnaire.

We are pleased to inform you that we have decided to endorse you as the best voting option in your constituency to protect millions of animals from the cruelty of bloodsports, intensive farming and painful experiments. Please feel free to announce this on your website and other media.

You can view our endorsement by visiting www.vote4animals.org.uk/constituency.htm and clicking on your constituency or go straight to East Devon here http://www.vote4animals2.org.uk/cgi-bin/csvsearch10.pl?show=149

We believe that the way we treat animals is a fundamental indication of the state of our society, and 87% of the public agree, according to a YouGov opinion poll. Your support for measures to protect animals is, therefore, a positive sign that you have the character and values much needed to stand in Parliament and help restore the integrity of our political system.

We wish you the very best of luck in the General Election, and we hope we can work with you in the next Parliament to build a more compassionate society where animals are treated as individuals worthy of respect rather than expendable objects to be exploited and abused.

Kind regards

Dr Dan Lyons

Protecting Animals in Democracy

VOTE4ANIMALS 2010

Here are the 12 Green Party candidates for Devon!

Across the county of Devon everyone will now have the opportunity to vote Green, during the past 2 years whilst other political parties have had dwindling recruits The Green Party has seen unprecedented growth in its membership. Now for the first time the whole county will be able to enjoy the full experience of voting Green, a vote that stands for real people who will bring to politics their life experiences.

The full slate includes teachers, nurses, an ex-marine, engineers, housing officer, business women and men, social workers, charity workers, and councillors. Where ever the Green Party puts its stall across the county we have a queue of people wanting to find our our policies and committing to vote Green, canvassing is also very positive on the doorstep, the Green Party looks as if it may provide some real political excitement.

]]> http://www.sharonpavey.org/greens-in-the-lead-in-east-devon/feed/ 0 http://www.sharonpavey.org/woodland-trust-election-campaign/ http://www.sharonpavey.org/woodland-trust-election-campaign/#comments Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:55:55 +0000 sharon http://www.sharonpavey.org/?p=648 As a candidate at the general election I believe that creating new woods and planting trees is a priority if we are to tackle challenges such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, wildlife loss, improving public health – both physical and mental – and shaping places where people want to live, work and spend their leisure time.

I will promote the creation of new native woods and trees by:

1. Committing to working for the expansion of native woodland cover throughout the duration of the next Parliament.

2. Contacting my party leader and asking them to adopt the Woodland Trust’s manifesto as a basis for expanding, enhancing and protecting the natural environment.

3. Ensuring that native woods and trees are high on the agenda at the election by publicising my support for the Woodland Trust’s manifesto.

You can find more information on the Woodland Trust on their website http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

Thank you to everyone who has sent me a link to this campaign, asking me to support it. It’s my pleasure as I have always loved woodland areas, both in Devon and in the north east where I grew up. I’m very fortunate that where I live now there are lots of woods and one of my favourite sounds when walking my dog is the woodpecker. I spend a lot of time trying to find where the industrious ‘chip chip chip’ sound is coming from (often failing!) and when I’m really lucky they come to feed at the bird table in my garden – and here’s one I photographed on my lawn.

Other delights I’ve seen recently in the woods of East Devon are a mischevious litter of fox cubs who didn’t realise I was there and a splendid dashing kingfisher just last week. We also like to go deer spotting with our two young children and we are looking forward to seeing the incredible carpets of bluebells in our local woods very soon. Here’s a picture I took last spring.

I have completed the questionnaire available at www.vote4animals.org.uk/downloads/pad-questionnaire-2010.doc in order that myself and other conscientious voters can make informed choices come Election day. Here are my answers below:

1. Hunting Ban

Recent opinion polling confirms a clear majority of both rural and urban dwellers are opposed to hunting with hounds. The legitimate sphere of personal freedom does not extend to cruelty and violence towards others.

Will you support the Hunting Act 2004, oppose any moves to repeal this legislation, and support robust enforcement of the Act?

YES

2. Democratic Reform

The Animal Welfare Act does not cover animals used in agriculture and research. A situation has evolved over many decades whereby the Government takes decisions affecting millions of animals in closed policy processes dominated by commercial interests, with animal welfare considerations effectively excluded. The ethical concerns of the public are largely ignored, undermining democracy and public trust in politics. We need a democratically-accountable body to create a level playing field and ensure animal protection is given a meaningful voice in Government for the first time.

Will you support the establishment of an Animal Protection Commission with overall responsibility for all policies affecting animal wellbeing?

YES

3. Battery Egg Farming

Battery farming of eggs – involving around 30 million hens every year – is arguably the cruellest form of farming in the UK. Current EU plans to replace conventional battery cage with so-called ‘enriched’ battery cages by 2012 are inadequate. ‘Enriched’ battery cages share many of the serious welfare problems common to the conventional battery cage. A comprehensive ban on battery cages will complement the scheduled 2011 prohibition of de-beaking, which is a painful and unnecessary mutilation.

Do you support a full ban on all battery cages for egg laying hens in 2012 and the scheduled prohibition of de-beaking in 2011?

YES

4. Reducing and Eliminating Animal Experimentation

There is broad agreement that the infliction of pain on animals raises serious ethical concerns and that there are significant scientific limitations to the use of animal models as a guide to human biology. We therefore support the recommendation of the Home Office’s Animal Procedures Committee for a determined, targetted effort to bring about the end of animal use. In other policy areas, demanding targets have been identified as providing a goal even where these targets might require technological and other innovation if they were to be met. We believe in an analogous strategy in relation to animal use.

Do you support a strategy to identify and implement targets for the reduction and elimination of animal experimentation?

YES

5. Animal Experiments: Freedom of Information

Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 blocks the publication of important information about animal experiments. PAD and the other major animal protection groups agree that researchers’ names and addresses and genuinely confidential information should remain secret. Given that each animal experiment is only rendered legal through the authorisation by the Government, acting on behalf of voters, we believe that the public should be able to access all other information relevant to the ethics of animal experiments, including what is being done to the animals and for what purpose.

Do you support the repeal of Section 24 of the 1986 Act and the application of FOI to animal experiments, except for personal and genuinely confidential information?

YES

6. Biofuels and Animal Habitats

The preservation of natural habitats is crucial to protect the welfare of individual animals as well preserving biodiversity and other environmental benefits. Increasing demand for biofuels has proved to be a leading driver of deforestation in some of the most biodiverse places on earth, causing widespread suffering and death to many animals. Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) incentivise the use of palm and other tropical oils as fuel for transport, power generation and heating in the EU, driving animals such as orangutans to the brink of extinction. Furthermore, the alternative source of biofuels is growing crops on agricultural land, which directly competes with growing food for people in areas where food scarcity is already a problem. Biofuels are not a sustainable solution to climate change, unlike truly renewable energy from sources such as wind, solar and tidal.

Do you support only giving subsidies to sustainable forms of energy production that protect animal welfare, and ensuring that biofuels are not subsidised through Renewable Obligation Certificates?

YES

]]> http://www.sharonpavey.org/protecting-animals-in-democracy-pad-project/feed/ 0 http://www.sharonpavey.org/the-greens-are-coming/ http://www.sharonpavey.org/the-greens-are-coming/#comments Sun, 21 Mar 2010 09:57:40 +0000 sharon http://www.sharonpavey.org/?p=639 The Green Party will be standing in around half the seats in England and Wales in the 2010 General Election. We do not have the resources to put up candidate in every constituency. If there is no candidate for your area please get in touch with the local Green Party to help provide a Green alternative on the ballot. We have no corporate sponsors, and every £10 donation helps. Best of all why not join us and help create a fairer future.

Click here to find your constituency & your Green Party candidate.

High-profile website, Mumsnet recently celebrated its 10th birthday and, with an estimated one million users, political parties have been tripping over themselves to court this group.. The main political leaders have participated in webchats from which we have gleaned such gems as Brown’s favourite biscuit: “anything with a bit of chocolate on it”.

But don’t be fooled by these Stepford-sounding mums who call their partners DH (darling husband) or DD (darling daughter), those who frequent the forums are a tough crowd. Predominantly middle class and quick to express their displeasure – they’ve also quizzed the leaders on everything from Europe to ID cards.

That women find themselves centre stage in this particular election is no accident; it’s what analysts refer to as the “gender gap”. Historically, women have been more likely to vote Conservative but in 1997 the gap noticeably narrowed and Blair swept to power. As we head for the next election the gap has almost closed, meaning that there’s everything to play for.

A politically-independent organisation, the Fawcett Society is the leading campaign group for sexual equality in pay, pensions and politics. Ceri Goddard, Chief Executive is unequivocal, “Whoever the majority of women vote for will win the next election; all the parties know that,” she told Sideways.

Read more here on the sideways website.