Greens Announce Line Up to Contest Local Constituencies


Housing, air quality and the NHS are their campaign priorities


l-r: Lois Davis, Ben Fletcher, Esther Obiri-Darko

The Wandsworth Green party have selected their candidates to contest the local seats in the General Election at a meeting this Thursday night (27 April).

Following a hustings meeting in Battersea, they chose the three candidates to stand for the party in the constituencies of Battersea, Putney and Tooting on 8 June 2017:

• Lois Davis is the candidate for Battersea;
• Ben Fletcher is the candidate for Putney;
• Esther Obiri-Darko is the candidate for Tooting.

They say they will campaign against a hard Brexit, for action to tackle climate change, for decent homes, for a public NHS, for free, quality education, for a fair economy and for better transport.

“Here in Battersea we have the scandalous 9 Elms development; multi-million pound flats that are nothing more than safety deposit boxes in the sky,” said Lois Davis. “What matters for us is pushing for housing policies that mean building homes for people not profit and making renting a secure and viable option for all those on low and variable incomes who daren’t even dream of home ownership.”

She will be contesting the seat currently held by Jane Ellison for the Conservatives.

General Election 2015: Battersea
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Jane Ellison 26,730 52.4 +5.0
Labour Will Martindale  18,792 36.8 +1.7
Liberal Democrat Luke Taylor 2,241 4.4 -10.3
Green Joe Stuart 1,682 3.3 +2.2
UKIP Christopher Howe 1,586 3.1 +2.1
Majority 7,938 15.6 +3.4
Turnout 51,031 67.0 +1.3
Conservative hold Swing +1.6

“As a Putney resident I am well aware of, and very concerned about, the impact toxic air has on our health and quality of life,” said Ben Fletcher. “I will campaign for strong and rigorous action to tackle air pollution and ensure the government step up to their responsibilities to protect public health.”

He will be up against Education Secretary Justine Greening who holds the Putney seat for the Conservatives with a large majority. However, voters in the constituency were in favour of remaining in the EU by a significant margin.

General Election 2015: Putney
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Justine Greening 23,018 53.8 +0.8
Labour Sheila Boswell 12,838 30.0 +2.6
Liberal Democrat Andrew Hallett 2,717 6.3 −10.6
Green Christopher Poole 2,067 4.8 +3.4
UKIP Patricia Ward 1,989 4.6 +3.5
Animal Welfare Guy Dessoy 184 0.4 N/A
Majority 10,180 23.8 -0.8
Turnout 42,813 67.0 +2.6
Conservative hold Swing -0.9

“St George’s in Tooting is seeing millions of pounds of healthcare funding spent on private companies instead of nurses and doctors,” said Esther Obiri-Darko. “The Green Party will take the profit motive out of healthcare and restore a public NHS that will last for generations to come.”

She will be contesting the Tooting constituency currently held by Dr Rosena Allin-Khan. The Conservatives have announced that Dan Watkins is to stand for them for the third time. He is an entrepreneur, who runs his own legal technology business. He is due to be formally confirmed on 3 May but will be unopposed at the reselection meeting and has already begun to campaign.

By-election 2016: Tooting
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Rosena Allin-Khan 17,894 55.9 +8.7
Conservative Dan Watkins 11,537 36.1 −5.8
Green Esther Obiri-Darko 830 2.6 −1.5
Liberal Democrat Alex Glassbrook 820 2.6 −1.3
UKIP Elizabeth Jones 507 1.6 −1.3
Christian Peoples Des Coke 164 0.5 +0.5
Monster Raving Loony Alan "Howling Laud" Hope 54 0.2 +0.2
Independent Zirwa Javaid 30 0.1 +0.1
One Love Ankit Love 32 0.1 +0.1
Immigrants Political Party Akbar Ali Malik 44 0.1 +0.1
English Democrat Graham Moore 50 0.2 +0.2
Independent Zia Samadani 23 0.1 +0.1
Independent Smiley Smillie 5 0.0 +0.0
Give Me Back Elmo Bobby Smith 9 0.0 +0.0
Majority 6,357 19.9 +14.6
Turnout 31,763 42.5 −27.2
Labour hold Swing +7.3

The Liberal Democrats have also announced a full slate of candidates for constituencies which means that the hopes of those proposing a 'progressive alliance' in the area with anti-Brexit parties cooperating to maximise the chances of a single candidate have been dashed.

At the time of writing candidates from other parties including Labour in Putney and Battersea have yet to be announced.



April 28, 2017