Ben Parker is the Green candidate in Edinburgh South West. At the 2017 election the Greens did not field a candidate here – but this time round they have candidates in all five constituencies.
Ben told us why he wants to become an MP. He said : “I’m standing in this election because I’m really worried about climate change. We know that we’ve got 10 years left to tackle the biggest crisis that I think humanity’s ever faced. I’m 23 years old – in 10 years time, I’m going to be 33. That’s the kind of age that my parents were when they started settling down. The fact that I could be thinking about maybe having children starting a family. And that’s the same timescale that we’ve got to save the planet. That’s deeply concerning.
“So I’m really keen to get active and actually stand up for what I believe in, which is that we need climate action. We need climate action now.
“I work two part-time jobs I’m the shop manager at the One World shop the Fair Trade shop at the bottom of Princes Street. And I also work as a volunteer coordinator for a Scotland wide disability housing charity. I graduated from university just earlier this year, and I’m also the Co-Convener of the Edinburgh Greens branch. So I’ve been involved in kind of the Green Party for that while as well.
“One thing that’s a big issue in Edinburgh South West at the moment is the kind of ongoing situation with Gorgie Farm. And so I’ve been really pleased to be working with local Councillor Gavin Corbett and Alison Johnstone, who’s the MSP to find out exactly what the situation is there. As Greens, we’re really passionate that the farm keeps open. We’re really keen to make sure that that happens for community and social benefit. So we’re really keen to be talking to people on the doorstep about that issue and sending our reassurances that that is something we are working on.
“Perhaps predictably, we’re talking a lot about climate change in this election, I mentioned already that we’ve got 10 years to tackle the climate crisis. So we’re really keen to make sure that we have action now on that. I think it’s really important to recognise that this isn’t just about tackling climate change in an abstract sense.
“It’s actually about a Green New Deal.
“So it’s about creating jobs for people across Scotland. It’s about creating good quality, well paid jobs, which as well as tackling the climate crisis actually make people’s lives better.
“And I think that’s as a younger person that’s something that I’ve been really frustrated about when kind of watching the news seeing what other politicians are talking about because it’s not just about climate change being a huge issue.
“It’s actually about the wasted opportunity that we’ve seen decade after decade of government not putting investment into the sorts of things that can tackle the climate crisis but also make people’s lives better.”
Edinburgh South West candidates 2019
BALLANTINE, David Craig – Brexit Party
BROWN, Mev – Social Democratic Party Scotland
CHERRY, Joanna Catherine – Scottish National Party (SNP)
COOKE, Sophie – Scottish Labour Party
INGLIS, Tom – Scottish Liberal Democrats
LAIDLAW, Callum Arron – Scottish Conservative and Unionist
PARKER, Ben – Scottish Green Party
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Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
