Election is about Fairness, says Green Party

Written by Pete Goodwin Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Published last week and compiled by University College London epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot, the government-commissioned report showed that poor Britons die on average seven years earlier than the better off and spend more of their lives sick.

“It is staggering in modern Britain that you are likely to die much younger if you are born poor,” a statement from Bristol's four Green Party parliamentary candidates said.

“It is obvious that you cannot trust Labour or the Tories to deliver true equality of health and life quality to everyone in Britain as things have not improved under decades of their rule.

“It's time to send a message to them that fairness is worth fighting for.

“A vote for the Green Party is a vote for fairness.”

Last week's report was a damning indictment of successive Labour and Conservative governments and it came just two weeks after another report that showed the richest 10% of Britons now earn 100 times as much as the poorest.

It also follows on from a report last year that showed the gap between rich and poor in Britain had not narrowed in the past 30 years.

“This is simply not good enough. We are failing so many in our society. News like this should shame our country's leaders. We should not rest until we have done all we can to improve the health and life chances of all Britons.”

Bristol's four parliamentary Green Party candidates are Charlie Bolton (Bristol South), Alex Dunn (Bristol North West), Ricky Knight (Bristol West) and Glenn Vowles (Bristol East).

The Green Party supports publicly funded health, affordable housing as a basic right, a living wage for all and equal access to state-funded education, which is there to nurture all students to be the best that they can be.

Note: See also our briefing "a Look at Britain's Inequalities"

Press Team Contacts:

Pete Goodwin, 01275 543280

Bill Heaney, 0117 973 4133 or 0789 1505456