Green Party Conference Reort



Cllr Jason Kitkat tells the story of the Brighton Green Budget



Green Party Conference in Liverpool was enjoyable. It is a good opportunity to meet up with other Green Party Councillors from around the country. Each one of them has their own story of how they got elected, often against the odds, and how they are imaginatively using the opportunity of being elected to make a difference. My chief responsibility as Chair of the Association of Green Councillors was organising the AGC Conference Curry. I now know that Liverpool Cllr John Coyne has no judgement regarding curry strength and that the vindaloo he recommended I eat was not in fact much milder than the average vindaloo as he suggested. Cllr Maya De Souza of Camden gave us all an explanation of where curry names were derived which was generally not in fact from the Indian Sub Continent. Councillor Tom Harris from Stafford Borough Council found he shared a fluency in German with Cllr Sarah Jennings of Liverpool. Most of my German language knowledge was unfortunately derived from ‘ Commando’ comic. So it mainly consists of ‘Donner und Blitzen’, ‘Achtung’ and ‘Englischen Schweinhunt’ though I have used ‘Eine Grosse Bier bitte’ on more than one occasion. The interest in the German language was sparked by me mentioning the new movie ‘Iron Sky’, recently launched in Berlin, which tells of Nazis who escaped to the far side of the moon in 1945 having discovered anti gravity and 70 odd years later come back to invade us. I wondered where Kirklees BNP had gone?

It was also good to meet up with Cllr Alan Weeks of Hampshire and his Lorella who are actively revitalising Hampshire Greens showing them the ‘ways of the force’ in fighting elections. We had a happy evening with Cllr Tom Harris drinking beer from an organic brewery based in Liverpool. Local production for local needs at its best.

I made a number of interventions on the Conference floor. I supported the Young Greens in their quest for a seat on the Green Party National Executive and they achieved the necessary 2/3rds majority to change the constitution. I supported the Green Councillors from Brighton who had just got through their first budget but only after the Conservatives joined with Labour to reduce spending by bringing savings forward from year 2 of their budget. Much of the Conference focussed on the Coalition cuts , their impact and what we could do to minimise the damage they are doing to individuals and communities.

Anyway here's the trailer for 'Iron Sky'