I’m standing to be an MEP because voters deserve more than a sticking plaster for Brexit

European Elections 2019: meet the candidates in this month’s fractious vote

The other pro-Remain parties are peddling the same lacklustre vision that got us into this Brexit mess in the first place.

When I am out speaking to voters, they tell me they are fed up, disillusioned and hungry for change. They are fed up of being told only through voting for the main parties will their vote matter. And they are fed up of having to compromise on issues that matter to them such as climate change or social justice.

That’s why I'm standing to be an MEP and why voters are turning to the Green Party. It’s the only way we can signal opposition to Brexit while voting for a politics of real change.

Over the last week. the Green Party has already made history no less than two times. Firstly former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams broke with the tradition of staying silent on political issues by publicly backing our East of England lead candidate.

Secondly, the Greens are ahead of the Tories in a recent opinion poll for the first time ever.

The momentum is with us and people are ditching the traditional parties and instead choosing to back the only party that genuinely has a message of hope at these elections.

The message of the other pro-EU parties including the Lib Dems and Change UK is vote for us to halt Brexit. And then what?

We may agree that Brexit would be like a wrecking ball through our communities but the policies put forward by these parties offer business as usual when it comes to the EU.

They do not tackle the issues which drove many people to reject our membership of the EU nearly three years ago.

All they offer is a sticking plaster for Brexit and hope those problems will disappear. It was the Lib Dems who presided over five years of austerity with the Tories that devastated towns and villages across the southeast and shattered trust many people had in politics.

At the same time, the Labour Party is dancing to a tune that becomes more confusing every time a member of its front bench opens their mouth.

The incessant flip flopping of Labour at this time of national crisis is to its absolute shame. Our nation’s opposition party is trying to offer something for everyone while offering nothing for anyone.

But worse, these parties lack any vision to safeguard our EU membership for generations to come. Both Labour and the Lib Dems have sent MEPs to Brussels for decades to sit in international groups that have maintained a Europe that people have become disillusioned with.

We believe voters deserve better.

To keep the UK in the EU shouldn’t drive voters to peg their nose and vote for the status quo. That’s why it’s only the Greens that are offering radical solutions at this election, underpinned by a pro-remain message. After all, it was Caroline Lucas who was the first politician to call for a people’s vote, despite what the other parties may try to claim.

The platform I and my other Green colleagues are standing on at this election is one of ambition.

For too long the alternative to mainstream parties has been dominated by the toxic and divisive politics of Ukip and now the Brexit Party. The Greens unequivocally reject their politics of hate and provide the only positive alternative to the big three parties.

We don’t just have a plan to stop Brexit through mobilising a pro-remain message through a people’s vote. We have a plan to bring some joy back into our politics.

And so I have put myself forward to recharge the fight against climate change to save our environment by phasing out fossil fuels by 2030. A vote for the Green Party is a vote to adopt an action plan to tax the super rich to ensure those with wealth over £3m contribute equitably. And a vote for the Green Party is to usher in labour protections that better protect self-employed people and workers in the gig economy.

Unlike the other parties, our ambition for Europe stretches much further than Brexit alone. That’s why every three minutes someone joins the Green Party. And that’s why voters across the country are switching to a different way of politics.

Alexandra Phillips is the Green Party's lead MEP candidate for the South East region