Steve Burgess is a Green councillor on The City of Edinburgh Council for Southside/Newington. He has been a candidate in several elections at national and council level. The Green Group on the council has doubled in size in recent years.
He told us about the key reasons to vote Green at the General Election 2019. He said : “This election needs to be about far more than Brexit, or independence.
“10 years ago, climate scientists, from the United Nations told us we have about 10 years to slash greenhouse gas emissions by about half. So for Greens, this is the climate election. We are demanding action from government on the climate emergency.
“We have a Scottish Green New Deal that we’re proposing. And we’re asking voters to send a loud and clear message that they demand climate action.
“I’m a councillor in Southside Newington. But I’ve got strong family connections with Edinburgh North and Leith. my great grandparents run a grocer in Canonmills and actually I grew up in the north of Edinburgh all my life and my mum still lives there.
“We would say that climate change is a local issue, because it’s going to affect everybody. But aside from that, the welfare policies of the Tory Government are horrendous. The pressure they put on people with sanctions. I mean, it’s a disgrace in this day and age that we have food banks in Edinburgh. People should not be living hand to mouth in our society.
“Scottish Greens have always supported a confirmatory referendum on Brexit. People now know what the deal is they didn’t before and we think that it’s only fair that people should be given a chance to have their say.”
Edinburgh North and Leith candidates 2019
ASTBURY, Heather Jane – Renew
BROCK, Deidre Leanne – Scottish National Party (SNP)
BURGESS, Steve – Scottish Green Party
MCGILL, Iain – Scottish Conservative and Unionist
MUNRO, Gordon John – Labour and Co-operative Party
SPEIRS, Robert – Brexit Party
WILSON, Bruce Roy – Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
