On Wednesday the European Commission announced plans to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Reforms include giving small landowners in remote areas more financial assistance and reducing the payments made to large landowners. The reforms will also require farmers to carry out certain environmental measures to receive subsidies. 30% of current direct payments to farmers will be conditional on farmers doing more to protect the environment, such as leaving 7-10 per cent of land without crops on it, ensuring arable farms grow at least three crops and extending hedgerows.

Keith and his fellow Green MEPs have argued for stronger measures in the CAP to promote more environmentally sustainable farming systems. Despite widespread support from EU citizens for local and environmental friendly farming, the European Commission’s proposals continue supporting factory farming, which creates high climate emissions and perpetuates poor animal welfare standards. Keith has been working in the UK to raise the issue of poor animal welfare with the UK’s major supermarkets and has called on them to sell either free range meat or meat produced to RSPCA ‘Freedom Food’ standards.

Keith said: “British organic farms are a great example of an approach to food production which is less harmful to the environment, protects biodiversity and ensures a higher level of animal welfare. This week the European Commission proposed changes to the Common Agricultural Policy which are a step in the right direction, but represent a missed opportunity for fundamental reform of farming in the UK. Sustainable farming and food systems are crucial for tackling the challenges agriculture is now confronted with, like climate change, loss of biodiversity and water and soil protection.

Keith continued: “The Common Agricultural Policy should be a vital tool to promote sustainable agriculture and fair incomes for farmers and the Commission’s proposals represent a missed opportunity for fundamental reform. But this is not the end of the road; the proposals will go to the European Parliament later this month. I will work with my Green colleagues to press for a European agriculture policy which takes seriously the challenge of fighting climate change, protecting biodiversity and promoting a food system that offers healthy food and fair distribution of public money for all.”

Keith added: “It’s fantastic that organic farms, such as Step Farm, have such a high regard for animal welfare. I believe all consumers have a right to know that the meat they eat has not been produced in a way that has a detrimental impact on animal welfare. Earlier this year I wrote to the EU Commission to ask them to put pressure on EU member states to fully enforce the Pigs Directive, which sets out pig welfare standards and I am determined to continue to press for better conditions in our farms.”

Keith was visiting Step Farm in Faringdon to meet with farmer Daphne Saunders to discuss animal welfare issues and the reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural policy. Step Farm is a 345 hectare mixed farm in the upper Thames valley near Faringdon, where the Saunders family have been producing food organically since 1982. They have a mixture of enterprises including dairy cows, sheep, beef and cereals. Step Farm has a doorstep milk delivery scheme operating in Oxfordshire and its shop supplies organic beef and lamb.

The Green Party’s youth membership increased after parliament voted last year to treble the cap on university tuition fees in England to £9,000 per year. The party now has over 3000 young Green Party members, nearly 20% of the membership. Keith Taylor believes that the government should reinstate state funding to enable universal access to university education.

On Friday morning Keith will visit The Oxford Hub, a student volunteering organisation which recently moved into its new building on Turl Street. Originally opened by a group of Oxford students in 2007 to encourage student volunteering, the Oxford Hub has since grown to a national charity encouraging collaboration and supporting enterprise for thousands of students.

More than 600 students volunteer through the centre, which works with 35 Oxfordshire-based charitable organisations. Students help local communities through a variety of grass-roots projects, from working with the elderly to running mentoring programmes in local schools. Keith will visit the Turl Street Kitchen, an in-house commercial venture serving ethical and sustainable produce and providing some long-term financial stability for the many volunteering and social action projects the charity supports.

Keith said: “Being a student is a great time to get involved in the local community and to campaign on social justice and environmental issues. The Student Hub is a fantastic initiative which helps to increase student engagement in social action. The students who have created this space have been incredibly enterprising in setting up this innovative social enterprise, which I hope will be well used by students and local residents. It’s good to hear that the Turl Street Kitchen is serving ethical and sustainable produce and I look forward to meeting those who work there to hear more about the project and how the first few weeks have been going.”

There will be a decision made in an Israeli court on Wednesday 27 September as to whether to proceed with the planned demolitions, and so Keith has written to the aforementioned officials to urge them to put pressure on the Israeli government to stop this violation of international law, and to protect the people of Al Walaja from having their village destroyed.

A copy of these letters can be accessed here and here.

To read more about Keith’s work on Palestine and the Middle East visit the Peace & Anti Nuclear section of his website.

I was involved in campaigning to save the Vestas factory in the Isle of Wight back in 2009, which was forced to close due to a lack of government subsidies. Now, just two years on, the progress that this company has made is remarkable, and the proposed new factory could be built within a year. Renewable energy, such as wind, contributes to our short-term reduction targets to prevent runaway climate change, they are safe – unlike nuclear power, and they provide local jobs. I will continue to fight for ambitious EU renewable energy targets which will support this move towards a greener future.

Keith believes there is a strong case for enhancing the capacity and performance of Britain’s inter-city rail network but that the HS2 proposals are not the answer. In his submission Keith raises a series of objections to the HS2 plans including their impact on biodiversity, the CO2 emissions produced, noise, a lack of accessibility and the high cost to the taxpayer and passengers.

Keith said: “HS2 is not the right solution to our transport needs. Money would be better spent upgrading and improving existing rail infrastructure, or on an alternative scheme. This scheme puts too much focus on bringing people to London. Instead what is needed is real investment in jobs and regeneration in the north. Creating a slightly faster, yet very expensive rail service, will create a two tier rail network in this country.”

Keith continued: “The unproved economic and social benefits which the scheme claims to bring do not merit the irreparable environmental damage which will be caused through higher energy consumption, noise, CO2 emissions and biodiversity loss. Creating deep cuttings and tunnels through EU protected wildlife sites is not a price to pay for a rich man’s railway which only serves four stations. In my constituency, the South East, eighteen wildlife sites alone would be directly affected while local people will see little benefit from the scheme.”

Keith concluded: “I will continue to oppose this scheme. If it does get the go-ahead then I will be contacting the European Commission to raise my concerns that under EU legislation the government must show that their plans will not adversely affect any EU protected wildlife sites. I will also be looking into the new EU legislation on noise to see if this will help local people who could be affected by the noise created by HS2.”

Keith’s response to the Government’s consultation on HS2

Long term exposure to air pollution is associated with heart and lung disease. The report includes recent research from California (2) which has shown that children growing up near motorways can suffer permanently reduced lung capacity.

Government figures show that the health costs of just one pollutant, PM2.5, are already £15 billion each year (3). Yet the UK government is failing to implement legally binding EU levels on air quality.

In 2009 the EU started legal action against the UK for breaching safe levels of pollutants, but the government has now been granted more time to meet the EU's deadline. If the UK doesn't comply with safe levels the government risks being fined up to £300m (4).

‘Air Pollution: The Invisible Killer' contains a map which shows that air pollution is widespread across London and South East England. Many local authorities in the region have declared that they are likely to exceed the required EU safe levels for pollutants - Keith believes that this inertia is unacceptable.

Up to 70% of air pollution in urban areas is from road transport (5). Keith's air pollution campaign is calling for national government to provide adequate funding to local authorities to invest in public transport, promoting walking and cycling and introduce public information systems to alert people to air pollution.

Keith Taylor MEP said: "The right to breathe clean air is fundamental. Yet thousands of lives in the South East are being shortened because air is heavily polluted in many places, mostly by traffic. This is an invisible public health crisis which urgently needs to be tackled.

"The UK government has recently admitted that it will not meet the required EU limits for Nitrogen Dioxide and must now explain this sorry state of affairs to the European Commission.

"The EU air quality standards have been put in place and agreed on by Member States because they set safe limits for the air we breathe. I am putting pressure on the European Commission to make sure that they do not allow the UK government to shirk its responsibility."

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas said: "I welcome this new campaign from Green MEP Keith Taylor, which I hope will increase public awareness of the risk to our health from poor air quality.

"Despite significant new evidence of the scale of the health risk from pollution, the government has done very little to communicate it to the public. And the fact that it has been forced to apply for more time to meet its EU deadlines indicates a total policy failure.

"In Brighton and Hove, standards for nitrogen dioxide are regularly exceeded at 20 sites across the city - with much of the pollution being caused by traffic.

"Instead of trying to water down the current EU laws and wasting money on short term cosmetic fixes, such as sticking pollution to the roads or cleaning the areas around air quality monitors - as we have seen in London, for example - Ministers should be creating an urgent cross departmental strategy to reduce pollution."

In Brighton & Hove the Greens gained 10 new seats to form the largest group on the council, becoming the UK's first ever Green-led local authority. Greens now hold 23 seats on Brighton & Hove City Council, Conservatives have lost 8 seats and now hold 18 seats, Labour are unchanged at 13 seats and Liberal Democrats lost their last remaining seat.

Brighton Pavilion MP and Green Party Leader commented on the result, saying:

"I am delighted that the voters of Brighton and Hove have once again made history by voting in the Greens as the largest party on the council.

“The fact that we held all our seats and gained 10 – with a total of 23 – shows more than ever the scale of Green support in the city.

“We have offered people a positive and progressive alternative to the older political parties and they have welcomed it.

“Our councillors are determined to get the best possible deal for Brighton and Hove in these difficult times."

In Reigate Sarah Finch was elected the second Green councillor following Jonathan Essex's win last year.

Reading Green Party also gained a seat with Melanie Eastwood joining Rob White on Reading Borough Council.

More on the Brighton & Hove result

More on the Reigate result

More on the Reading result

Cllr White said today:
"This was totally unexpected. I have just been working away with residents and the council on improving the local area, as I was doing before getting elected.

"Apart from being surprised I am both delighted and honoured to have made the shortlist."

Cllr White said that before the election his priorities were more decent affordable housing, better public transport walking and cycling facilities and tackling crime and antisocial behavior.

Since then, Rob says, he has been "standing up for public services and fighting cuts to care services."

The awards ceremony is being held in Westminster on Tuesday, 8th February.

More than 400 anti-cuts protesters, including a good contingent of Green Party members attended the latest march and rally in Portsmouth, where the Lib Dem controlled City Council has annouced their intention to cut 400 jobs and is threatening existing worker rights - like sick pay.  The March was organised by Portsmouth Against the Cuts Together. Speakers at the Rally includes Green Party members, Iain MacLennen - a local GP and Green candidate in 2010 for Portsmouth North - and Matt Blackall - a Vice President of Portsmouth Student union.

In amendments to the crucial Postal Services Bill, which MPs will vote on tomorrow, Caroline calls on the Government to recognise the vital role that Post Offices play in communities and to remove proposals for privatisation of the Royal Mail.

The Bill could have serious consequences for Post Offices, because it does not provide any guarantees that the current inter-business agreement with Royal Mail will continue.

The MP also proposes the creation of a formal relationship between Post Offices and credit unions, in order to increase awareness of, and access to, affordable credit.

Caroline said: "The coalition Government's reckless plans to sell off our 400-year-old Royal Mail are likely to completely undermine the Post Office network.

"Many older people, families and other vulnerable members of the community, as well as small businesses, rely on their local Post Office as a way of making contact with others and accessing key services.

"According to the Communications Workers Union, over 1,000 UK Post Offices were either closed or put up for sale in 2010. In Brighton, local closures and relocations are already leaving hundreds without adequate access to this vital public service."

Brighton Green councillor for St Peter's & North Laine Pete West added: "Just this week it was announced that the Post Office is planning to close and relocate a key branch in our ward. The new location is less accessible, cramped, and will leave a sizeable area of Brighton city centre without a Post Office.

"Green ward councillors are informing residents and setting up a meeting between the Post Office, the local authority, and elected representatives to secure this service."

Caroline concluded: "Thanks to former business secretary Peter Mandelson's efforts, it was the Labour Government that got the ball rolling on liberalising the UK's postal services. Now the Tories are following suit, selling off key public goods and services to the highest bidder.

"The Greens are the only party to consistently fight against postal privatisation at every level."

ENDS

More information about Keith's work at www.keithtaylormep.org.uk

After a six-year long campaign for 20 mph speed limits in residential areas in Reading, newly elected Green Councillor Rob White is delighted that growing public support has finally forced progress on Reading Borough Council.

As Councillor White, in collaboration with other councillors, was drafting a motion to council, news comes that the Conservatives will be announcing an investigation into 20 mph speed limits across the town.

A delighted Councillor White said: “This is a subject very close to my heart. I presented a petition to the council about this way back before I was elected. The strange thing is how quickly the Conservatives have managed a U-turn on this. I remember the parliamentary hustings in Reading East earlier this year. The Labour and LibDem candidates joined me in supporting 20 mph speed limits, but the Conservative representative failed to support such a scheme”.

Now that the Conservatives have recognised the potential benefits, a report will be going to the Traffic Management Advisory Panel in September calling for a more detailed investigation into a scheme.

Councillor Rob White added: "Streets should be for people. 20 mph speed limits have been shown to calm traffic down, creating safer roads, which are more pleasant to live on. This will also help create a better environment for pedestrians and cyclists.

"This truly is an idea whose time has come. Progress was slow under the previous administration but I am pleased to see the local Coalition now taking this idea seriously."

For more information please contact Rob White on 07985 923938 or 0118 9667183.

Rob White was elected in Park Ward as Reading and Berkshire's first unitary authority Green Party councillor in May 2010.

The Green Group on the City Council are demanding a review of top salaries given to the most senior local Council Officers after it was revealed in a recent Government and Audit report that the massive increases given last year will cost the City Council nearly £200,000 extra to fund the new pay rises and pension contributions of the most senior officers.

Now over 11 officers will be paid more than £74,000 per year with the Chief Executive paid over £141,000.00, a figure between 10% and 35% more than other Chief Executives in neighbouring District authorities.
The extra pay awards which were between 11% and 34% extra in one year mean that the senior officers are in the top 1% pay scales for District Local Authorities in the UK and that the Chief Executive is paid just less than the Prime Minister.

Green Group leader, Cllr David Williams said that at a time of local government austerity, recession and unemployment the rises were unjustified. The Green motion to Council speaks of the pessimistic new restrictions introduced as a result of the budget on the 22nd of June and seeks a review of the most senior officers salaries in view of the massive cuts in local government monies that have been announced.

We now have a pay freeze for all local Government workers and we will be expected to reduce the spending of local Government by 25% over the next 3 years. This will mean that a dramatically reduced service with fewer staff to manage and a reduced range of services to organise, said David. ‘We can’t have very senior staff being paid vast amounts more to do a lot less’.

The option of putting up the rates and letting local people pay the extra will not be there as the new Government are to introduce a cap on rate rises. David says ‘ there has to be a balance in all this and we need to get real …we are suggesting that the very senior salaries are returned to the levels we had in 2008. This will reflect more fairly the range of services these very senior staff will manage in the future after the draconian cuts have been implemented.

Salute for one of our great human rights heroes

The Green Party is celebrating an Honorary Doctorate being conferred on Peter Tatchell for his services to human rights.

On Friday, 23 July 2010, Peter Tatchell received an Hon D.Litt (Sussex) from University Chancellor Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Green Party Leader and Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas commented:  "We are incredibly proud of the work which Peter continues to bring in human rights and that he is a member of the Green Party.

"Whether it is his advocacy on behalf of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans) asylum seekers or his ongoing campaign for gay marriage; we are thrilled that the staff and students of the University of Sussex have decided to thank him in this way.

"Peter is truly one of our greatest heroes."

Brighton Green Councillor Amy Kennedy, Alumna of Sussex University and a serving Green Party councillor in Brighton said, "Peter brings invaluable work to often overlooked areas of human rights: the citizens of our city, our country and our world are indebted to him for his work.

"We celebrate with him for an award which I am proud to say has come from my alma mater."

Phelim Mac Cafferty, National Chair of LGBT Greens said: "This Honorary Doctorate recognises Peter's ongoing, tireless work of over four decades.

"It is apt in the same year in which we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Gay Liberation Front that Peter receives this award - whether its his staunch defence of the rights of LGBT people abroad or his ongoing investigative work to deliver fairness on our own shores - his work continues to inspire all of us to fight for a better world."

Commenting on his Honorary Doctorate, Mr Tatchell said: "I was hesitant about accepting this honour.

After all, my contribution to human rights is very modest.

"I am a long way from being a brave and effective campaigner. Many others are much more deserving than me.

"I would never agree to a royal honour but this award is different.

"My decision to accept was partly because the initiative for this honorary doctorate was a grassroots one, from the staff and students. I am honoured by their recognition of my human rights work.

"I accept this award in solidarity with the many heroic, inspirational activists who I support in countries like Uganda, Somaliland, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Baluchistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Western Sahara, Iraq, Palestine and West Papua.

"The message I will deliver in my acceptance speech is this: Be sceptical, question authority, be a rebel.

"All human progress is the result of far-sighted people challenging orthodoxy, tradition and powerful, vested interests.

"Don't accept the world as it is. Dream about what the world could be - then help make it happen.

"In whatever field of endeavour you work, be a change-maker for the upliftment of humanity.

"I do my bit for social justice, but so do many others.

"Together, through our collective efforts, we are helping make a better world - a world more just and free.

"My key political inspirations are Mohandas Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst, Martin Luther King and, to some extent, Malcolm X.

"I've adapted many of their ideas and methods to the contemporary struggle for human rights - and invented a few of my own.

"I began campaigning in my home town of Melbourne , Australia , in 1967, aged 15.

"My first campaign was against the death penalty, followed by campaigns in support of Aboriginal rights and in opposition to conscription and the Australian and US war against the people of Vietnam .

"In 1969, on realising that I was gay, the struggle for queer freedom became an increasing focus of my activism.

"After moving to London in 1971, I became an activist in the Gay Liberation Front, organising sit-ins at pubs that refused to serve 'poofs', and protests against police harassment and the medical classification of homosexuality as an illness.

"I was roughed up and evicted when I disrupted Professor Hans Eysenck's 1972 lecture which advocated electric shock aversion therapy to 'cure' homosexuality.

"The following year, in East Berlin, I was arrested and interrogated by the secret police - the Stasi - after staging the first gay rights protest in a communist country," said Peter Tatchell.

Notes

For more information please contact Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Under EU rules, Keith Taylor - the Green Party's next candidate on its European List for the South-East region - takes Caroline Lucas's place in the European Parliament following her historic election to Westminster (1).

A former businessman from Sussex, Keith was a leading Green Party councillor for 11 years - and a Principal Speaker for the party between 2004 and 2006. Well known for his work on workers' rights, environmental justice and regional economic strategy, Keith also worked for Caroline Lucas for five years as a Regional Liaison Officer.

In his new role serving the South East, Keith will sit on the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), the Committee on International Trade (INTA) and the Committee on Petitions (PETI). He will also become a full member of the Parliamentary delegation to Afghanistan, and a substitute member of the Iran and Palestine delegations.

Keith Taylor MEP said:

"I've spent the last 11 happy and fulfilling years as a city councillor in Brighton & Hove, striving for improvements in the everyday quality of life for local people. Now I'm taking all I've learnt to Europe in order to serve the whole of the South East - and I'll work tirelessly to achieve the best results.

"It is my aim to deliver inclusive politics based on hope, around a positive vision of building a just and sustainable world. I want to bring the work of the European Parliament closer to my constituents, and listen carefully to their concerns about the future of our region.

"I'm looking forward to building on the fantastic work done by my predecessor, Caroline Lucas - and would like to wish her the very best of luck as she begins her historic term as the first Green MP at Westminster."

Caroline Lucas MP, who served in the European Parliament for over ten years, said:

"Keith is an outstanding politician, a highly respected party member, and a good friend. He has served the people of Brighton & Hove with passion and commitment for many years and will bring a wealth of experience to his new role in the European Parliament.

"I have no doubt that Keith will prove to be an excellent MEP for the South East region, and I wish him every success for the future."

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(1) The European Parliament took note of Caroline Lucas' election as MP on 18 May 2010. Caroline was a list candidate for the Green Party, and in view of this, her seat is filled in accordance with regulations 82-85 of the European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004 by Keith Taylor.