Andrew Gray's blog

From Spring Gentians to Rotten Boroughs: a sponsored walk with a difference

Fundraising for politicians and political parties can't be the easiest task after this week's revelations about MPs' expenses. But Greens are always ambitious about their politics. Their policy for a Green New Deal will transform the economy, create jobs and tackle climate change. And one Green Party member from Newcastle is about to set off on a 150 kilometre walk so that voters have a Green choice at elections.

Andrew Gray will set off on Sunday 24th May, on an eight-day walk across the North East, to raise funds for the Green Party's European and Parliamentary election campaigns. His walk, dubbed the Walk for Democracy, will start at Cow Green in upper Teesdale, home to Spring Gentians and a myriad of rare alpine plants whose survival was threatened when the valley was flooded to create the Cow Green reservoir in 1971. The walk ends at Howick on the Northumberland coast, home to the Second Earl Grey, who championed the 1832 Reform Act through Parliament, sweeping away the 'rotten boroughs' that were the political scandal of their time.

"We have to pay £5,000 as a 'deposit', just to appear on the ballot paper in the elections on 4th June," says Andrew, who is agent for the North East Green Party in the Euro elections, and has been selected as a candidate in his own constituency of Newcastle East for the next General election. "And for each seat that we contest at a General election, we will have to pay a £500 deposit. Those are big sums for the Green Party, and could prevent us putting our policies in front of voters, just when we need radical alternatives to avoid the devastation of climate change, both locally and internationally."

Further information on the walk, including details of the route and places visited, contact and press details (and a sponsorship form) are online, at tyneside.metapath.org/walk4democracy. And to set a new 'austerity' example for our MPs, Andrew's second home for much of the week will be a one-person tent.

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category: /walk4democracy