Election byline from Sherief Hassan, Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Hemel Hempstead

Immigration is a divisive subject that is being used as a major flag waved by different parties. It raises some questions:

Why do people migrate?

The first one is easy. Escaping conflict. Loss of security from an invading force or local tyranny. I would hope that most people would see this as something we would help with and give sanctuary.

Second, persecution due to ethnicity, faith or sexuality. Again, I would hope that compassion would trump anything else.

Thirdly, economic. There is great poverty across the world – some of it caused by climate change, which we are all responsible for. Many try to find security and a better life by migrating. Why should anyone be allowed into another nation just for money? It isn’t new. During the height of the British Empire, many British people followed their dreams to raise themselves out of poverty by migrating to occupied nations across the world. We don’t think of the spread of empire migrants as similar to today’s economic migrants but they are very similar. Many Brits still emigrate for a better life in other countries. Do we owe something to the people of other countries whose ancestors were ruled by our ancestors?

Why do they go to specific countries?

Despite the misinformation, not every migrant heads to the UK. Most go to other countries like France and Germany. Why? Again, the elephant in the room is language. Many ex-empire/colonial nations retain the occupier’s language – sometimes as their first.

English is the standard second language across the globe – Maybe due to the massive influence of the Empire. The French and Belgian empires left the French language as a reason for many to migrate to those countries.

Migrants, refugees and those that have been granted asylum only give more to their new home. Statistically, they use social services less, and often serve their communities in sectors that we need like the NHS. The economic cases of more general migrants but may be granted leave to remain because they fulfil one of the necessary criteria on economic grounds. Whilst the number of undocumented migrants – who aren’t eligible for benefits, despite what the stories say, only number 52,530 in 2023 against 1.2 million people legally migrating into the UK. 532,000 people emigrated from the UK – including a significant proportion of Brits, leaving a net migration figure of 685,000.

You think it’s bad now?

Being aware of the environmental issues, it is clear that Climate Migration is something we aren’t prepared for. The global south will experience changes so extreme that areas won’t be suitable for human life. They won’t be able to grow the out-of-season fruit and veg that we expect from them. They will do what humans have done throughout our history.

They will migrate. Where to? The global north. Where we live.

What do we do about this? We can prepare for unbelievable conflict, or we can do what we can to reduce climate change and invest in a stable world.

Birthright?

As a person with a diverse ethnicity, I have a view and possible insight into the reasons for migration. My grandfather was born in Lahore, and a British citizen of the Empire. He never held any other nationality. As a doctor, he volunteered in WW2 to tend British Soldiers in North Africa and ran arms to the Libyans during the Italian Occupation. My father, Mamoun Hassan, was born a British citizen in Jeddah. After attending a progressive secondary school in North London, surrounded and nurtured by the children of Jewish refugees from the Nazis, he became interested in the liberal arts. I am proud to say, he rose to hold senior, prominent positions in the British Film Industry, where he championed filmmakers who wanted to tell stories about British life, in all its diversity.

Where did they belong? When the family settled in England, which was never meant to be permanent, they changed their name to avoid attention during the worrying rise in fascism in the ’50s by Oswald Mosely and his Blackshirts. My family’s name was ‘Israeli’. An old name that had a direct line that showed where we came from. My ancient name reveals that we were ‘originally’ a Jewish family from the Holy Land. Is that my homeland? Some would violently disagree!

My grandmother was from Syria. The family were traders throughout the Middle East, through southern Spain, around to Turkey (thanks to a little thing called the Inquisition) and back to Syria. Are any of those places my homeland?

My mother’s father was born in Antrim – a red-haired, blue-eyed son of Ireland who came to England as a boy when the family moved to follow my great-grandfather’s work as a toolmaker in the Royal Docks in Greenwich – Starmer isn’t the only one with family toolmakers. Is Ireland my homeland? Except they were Scots-Irish. Is Scotland my homeland?

My maternal grandmother, whose father served in the Royal Artillery in WW1, was from a true British heritage – with a few Danes added for good measure! Surely not Denmark?

I was born in London. An Englishman, yet I have lived with the certain knowledge, that in many people’s eyes, I did ‘not belong’. Anywhere. How often have I heard “Go back to where you come from”? Where would that be? My homeland is England – Britain. London and in the heart of the Cotswolds, and now nearly 30 years in Hemel Hempstead. I grew up singing English folk songs and was a junior Morris man! My family’s football team is Arsenal. My father watched the cricket every summer – cheering for England in the Ashes. How English can you get? It could have been different but, by fortune or fate, this is my home.

There are many ways to be part of a nation. I believe part of it is how you treat others and accept the responsibility of what we owe, not just to ourselves but, to the world.

Thank you for your support and for taking the time to read this article.

Sherief Hassan

Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Hemel Hempstead

(Previously stood as Green Party Candidate for Hemel Hempstead in 2017 and 2019)

10th June 2024

hemel.hempstead@votegreen.uk

Promoted by Rose Sheridan on behalf of Dacorum Green Party, at PO Box 78066, London. SE16 9GQ

The Green Party policy on migration can be read here.

https://migration.greenparty.org.uk/migration-policy/

The post Immigration – a thorny subject? appeared first on Dacorum Green Party.

Election byline from Paul de Hoest, Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Harpenden & Berkhamsted

The most common position I am hearing on the doorsteps is that “we just want to get the Tories out”.  However, the two leading opposition parties in the West Herts area, Labour and LibDem, are clawing votes from each other, not on the strength of their policies, but on the spurious claim that “they are the only party that can beat the Conservative candidate” and a vote for the other lot will “risk letting the Tory back in”.

As Greens we are used to voters liking our values and policies but falling for the temptation to vote for one of the other opposition parties in the hope that this can overturn the Tory candidate.  In the former constituencies of South West Herts and Hitchen & Harpenden in recent campaigns both Labour and LibDems have beaten each other in the attempt to gather sufficient anti-Tory votes to win, and failing.

Corbyn’s Labour Party recorded their worst defeat for 60 years in 2019 whilst now the opinion polls forecast a runaway landslide Labour victory this time.  Local elections suffer from very low turnouts and different voter motivations and so are a poor guide to General Election behaviour.  In these circumstances there is no reliable basis upon which to decide which opposition party has the best chance of winning in this area in the event of a collapse in the Conservative vote.

Nevertheless, we are hearing Green minded people variously considering supporting Labour and LibDem.  However, if Green leaning voters ‘lend’ their vote equally between Labour and LibDem then little is achieved other than artificially depressing the apparent voter support for Green progressive policies.

The Green Party is the only political party with net positive voter ratings

There are many good reasons for voters to ignore the superficial appeal of tactical voting and instead to vote according to their hearts and consciences.

First, the main opposition party will be the Conservatives and so it is vital that the opposition benches also include Green Party MPs.  The Green Party is the only one that will challenge a timid Labour Government that has already committed itself to maintaining Tory economic austerity policies and watered down its Green investment programme.  The Greens are targeting four seats around the country and there is a strong chance that some, or all, of these will be successful.  The Green MP’s parliamentary challenge to Labour will be vastly strengthened the more voters around the country they can speak for.  If the Green national share of the vote is only 5% then their impact would be much less than if the Green national vote share is 15%.

Second, the media take notice of national shares of the vote when allocating airtime to issues and spokespeople. If the Green vote is artificially depressed across the country, then there will be less Green views expressed everywhere in the media.  Given the terrible ecological, climate, poverty and public services crises in this country it is vital that we maximise the media time given to discussing these issues and expressing Green views in all media outlets.

Thirdly, the successful parliamentary candidate represents all members of their constituency, not just their own voters. MPs are aware of how many votes the other parties receive in an election and will often adapt their positions according their perception of voter opinion. Even if the Green candidate does not win, a strong Green vote share will make MPs of all colours more likely to consider Green issues during their own parliamentary deliberations.  We do often hear MPs supporting their own constituents even if this means sometimes going against their own party line?

Fourth, there is also a financial incentive.  Opposition parties receive what is known as “short money” named after Ted Short, a Labour Minister in the Harold Wilson Government of 1974. These are funds provided to opposition parties to help fund their activities (such as research into policy issues) in order to be an effective opposition.  The amount of funding is primarily determined by the total number of votes cast for each opposition party in the most recent election.  A 5% share of the vote would generate approximately £400,000 whereas a 15% share of the vote would increase this Short money to £1.2m.  This could make a massive difference to the effectiveness of Green opposition challenges.  In every individual seat, candidates require at least 5% share of the vote in order to retain their £500 deposit. If Green voters refrain from voting Green so that the vote share drops below 5% then this could cost up to £300,000 to party funds. The Greens are not funded by wealthy corporate, or Trades Union sponsors: almost all of our funds come from individual members, friends and family.

For decades the Green vote has been artificially suppressed and the result is that western governments have done too little too late to address the climate and ecological crises: we have already surpassed 1.5 degree warming, our waters are full of sewage, wildlife has been decimated and our crops are failing.  If your conviction is that it is high time that this country had a more powerful Green voice in politics then I urge you to go with that conviction and Vote Green in this General Election.

Thank you for your support and for taking the time to read this article.

Paul de Hoest

Green Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Harpenden & Berkhamsted

(Previously stood as Green Party Candidate for South West Hertfordshire, a seat that has been altered by the boundary commission to create the new seat of Harpenden and Berkhamsted)

3rd June 2024

paul.de-hoest@votegreen.uk

Promoted by Rose Sheridan on behalf of Dacorum Green Party, at PO Box 78066, London. SE16 9GQ

The post Tactical Voting? Vote with conviction in 2024 appeared first on Dacorum Green Party.