Important announcement May 11th
Green Party York Central candidate to stand down
Following extensive discussion during two well attended members’ meetings Andy D'Agorne has withdrawn the Green Party nomination for the York Central constituency.
On June 8th the party will be campaigning vigorously to win two council seats in the Micklegate and Hull Rd by-elections, where we are the main challenger to Labour. We will also be contesting the York Outer seat after it has become clear that neither the Lib Dem nor Labour Parties were willing to consider standing down to increase the chances of defeating the current Tory MP.
Andy D’Agorne said ‘This has been a very difficult decision - particularly in view of the fact that Green candidate, Jonathan Tyler, got 10% of the vote last time in York Central, but we have decided that it is the right thing to do in order to play our part in securing as many progressive MPs in Parliament as possible and to oppose this deeply damaging and divisive Tory Government.
‘I know this will disappoint some of our supporters and please others, but we feel that in the current circumstances, when the future of our country is at stake, this is the right course of action. The Greens have taken the lead nationally and in York to try to bring about progressive alliances and it is disappointing that largely the other parties have not stepped up to the challenge. The fact that this difficult decision is necessary is a reflection of the lack of a proportional voting system in which everyone can see that their vote really does count.
We will still be campaigning vigorously to win the Micklegate and Hull Rd by-elections in which voters will have the opportunity to show the strength of their support for Green politics by increasing our council seats from 4 to 6 by electing Rosie Baker and John Cossham and extending the influence of the Green voice on the Council.
With our excellent York Outer candidate Bethan Vincent, we will be actively involved in debating the key issues such as the crisis in our health and social care provision, the increasing gap between rich and poor, the lack of decent affordable housing and the Government’s head in the sand approach to tackling climate change and air pollution and creating a clean energy future.’
