As a retired teacher I know our public services are creaking.

There’s a shortage of GPs, patients are spending hours waiting at A&E, our NHS is being dismantled.

Two million people are on housing waiting lists with little hope of a home and students are now burdened with thousands of pounds of debt.

The old parties are simply offering more of the same.

More cuts and the vague promise of ‘jam tomorrow’.

Britain remains one of the world’s richest nations yet a million people are relying on foodbanks to feed themselves and their families.

We never were “all in this together”, the poorest and most vulnerable in society have taken the brunt of austerity, while large corporations and wealthy financiers have been allowed to dodge taxes.

There is an alternative that will create a fairer economy, one that serves the interests of the many, not the few.

On May 7, a vote for the Green Party is a vote for:

  • Making the minimum wage a living wage of £10 per hour
  • Ending the privatisation of the NHS
  • Scrapping student tuition fees
  • Allowing councils to build affordable homes to rent
  • Opposing developments on green fields and agricultural land
  • Improving public transport, including Braintree’s rail service The Green Party is committed to real change, rejecting fracking and our dependence on fossil fuels