Greens take to the doorsteps of Bristol West

Bristol’s Green Party have redoubled their efforts to promote their candidate for Bristol West, Molly Scott Cato, in the hopes of securing a second seat in Parliament in the General Election on June 8.

Bristol 24/7 recently caught up with a group of Greens as they went about canvassing door-to-door, and met with Molly and the deputy leader of the party, Amelia Womack, to find out how things were progressing.

In Montpelier, people seemed keen to chat with campaigners, and the general response appears to be a positive one. “We know from the statistics that it’s one of the most politically engaged constituencies in the whole country,” explains Molly Scott Cato.

“That means that, when you knock on the door and somebody comes to talk to you, they already know a huge amount about what’s happening in local and national politics.”

The Greens consider Bristol West to be a critical constituency for their electoral campaign. In the 2015 election, they lost out by a narrow margin, having collected 27 per cent of the vote, just behind Labour’s 36 per cent. Bristol West is, therefore, a race between Green and Labour, something reflected by the colours of campaign posters that we see dotted in the windows along Cromwell Road, Montpelier.

The area’s high level of political engagement could be the reason why the Greens have observed such high level of interest. “One of the things that I’m really proud about being a Green for is that we celebrate diversity of voice,” Amelia says. “Few people know that Green Party policies are evidence-based, and are discussed, debated and voted on at public conferences”.

I ask Molly which elements of her campaign appeared to resonate most with her potential constituents. “I think the fact that the National Health Action Party has endorsed me as the candidate for Bristol most likely to support a fully public, properly funded health service in this constituency is a very strong argument,” she says. “We’ve got a lot of concern about cuts to public services – everywhere, but especially here.”

The Greens intend to use these canvassing sessions to illustrate how their policies differ from Labour’s, and to assure uncertain left-leaning voters that a vote for Molly would not be to the detriment of their overall hopes for the nation.

“I think it’s interesting that people are really stuck in a mantra of ‘I need to vote X to keep Y out’,” notes Amelia. “Here in Bristol West, that’s just not true, and people can really vote with their heart, and vote for what they believe in.

“When I talk to people, people want more Greens in parliament, as they see that we are underrepresented and they want to see better Green representation. It’s here in Bristol West that we can make that difference”.

The Greens are aiming to spread their message across all areas of the Bristol West constituency over the final week of the election campaign, to maximise their potential support. It will be fascinating to see the final outcome of this unique swing seat when Bristol goes to the polls once again.

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