Jean has been re-selected overwhelmingly as London Green Party's first preference candidate for the European elections in 2009. Second on the list is Lewisham Councillor Ute Michel, third is London Policy Co-ordinator Shahrar Ali and fourth is the party's International Co-ordinator Joseph Healey. Full results depend on whether London is confirmed with 8 or 9 seats in the Parliament from 2009."Hooray! The very existence of this group in the European Parliament, while it may have represented some citizen's views, was a blot on democracy.
"It came into being with the agreement of just one UK MEP, Ashley Mote*, who was also the final member necessary to meet the Parliament's rules. It claimed to stand for family and European Christian values, but its break-up, as a result of prejudice against national and minority groups, shows it stood for nothing of the kind. I hope that there will be no support for such groups, which preach bigotry and hatred, in the next European elections in 2009."
“We should treasure the fact that our NHS is universally accessible and must be vigilant about the threat from the Government to privatise. I do not believe that handing over the provision of services to private providers is in the best interests of the NHS or the people who rely on it.”
“Whilst we have an enviable health service there is much that can be done to improve it. The NHS performs poorly in comparison to other European countries on issues such as MRSA infection rates and waiting times. We needto invest more to ensure that all support staff receive appropriate trainingand are paid at least the living wage, currently £7.20 per hour in London.If we fail essential staff like cleaners we inevitably fail patients.”
The government's research highlights the valuable contribution that migrants have made to our economy recently. However, the social problems encountered in some areas point to the fact that we were woefully unprepared for their arrival. Many local authorities believed the migrants would gravitate towards already ethnically diverse regions, not settle in rural areas where they had little prior experience of integrating people from different cultures.
There has been a lack of information available in different languages about finding work and accommodation, and accessing social security, education and healthcare. It is little wonder then that many migrants have fallen prey to unscrupulous gangmasters and landlords. Given the government's tendency to think of migrants purely as economic units, we should be thankful to those authorities and organisations that have helped to ease the tensions and made the transition to life in Britain easier than it would otherwise have been.
Jean Lambert MEP Green MEP for London
A SUPERMARKET'S decision to change plans to build on marsh land has delighted environmental campaigners.
Asda applied to build a unit to recycle their plastics and cardboard on the Southmere Green part of Erith Marshes in October last year. But now they have submitted plans to refurbish an existing building on the marshes at Crabtree Manor Way North, Belvedere, for the service centre. Green campaigners were celebrating the withdrawal of the plans for the original site after they wrote to Asda outlining the environmental importance of the Southmere Green.
Jean Lambert MEP, who wants to get the land designated as a Greenfield site, restricting it from industrial development said: "Southmere Green on Erith Marshes is recognised as having high biodiversity, landscape and public green space value, as well as an important flood management role. It is completely wrong for it to be developed when there are far more suitable sites locally. The only reason for allowing development is the planning history for which Bexley council is responsible."Bexley council plans to build a build an industrial park on the Southmere Green in Erith Marshes.
