This time next week Keir and Victoria Starmer should have unpacked their belongings in Downing Street, as the new Prime Minister starts the mammoth task of trying to put this country back together again. After 14 years of rule- breaking and chaos , the alternative does not bear thinking about. But despite being a card-carrying member of the Labour Party on and off since 1995, in a few pockets across the country I am also hoping for a smattering of green.
The Green party has a good chance of winning two seats in this election – Brighton Pavilion, where former party leader Caroline Lucas is standing down, and Bristol Central. But it is in two traditionally Conservative areas that the Greens need your help. The rural seat of North Herefordshire has been held by the Tories for more than 100 years but polls suggest they have a fight on their hands.
One of the UK’s most beautiful but threatened rivers, the Wye, runs through it. This special area of conservation is suffering due to its location at the centre of intensive poultry production involving over 20 million birds. We hear a lot about water companies and overflow of human sewage , but animal muck is causing a bigger problem.
It’s one of the issues Green candidate Ellie Chowns promises to tackle if elected on Thursday. Disenchantment with the Tories in another part of rural England has put Green party co-leader Adrian Ramsay ahead in the polls for the newly created Waveney Valley seat on the Norfolk-Suffolk bor.
