Californian Amanda Grimm is already involved with the Scottish Greens as she works in parliament as a researcher for Ariane Burgess MSP.
She outlined that it is time for real change at Westminster. She said: “The UK is the sixth wealthiest country in the world, but for too many it doesn’t feel that way. Decades of Tory governments have worsened inequality and brought our public sector to its knees. Labour promises little change, refusing to cap bankers’ bonuses or bring in wealth taxes. The SNP council tax freeze means less local services for communities in Scotland.
“Different choices are possible. The Scottish Greens stand for greener, fairer policies that make life better for the majority and protect our shared planet, instead of concentrating wealth and power at the very top.”
Amanda explained her reasons for stepping up as a candidate. She said: “I’m standing for Westminster because I feel like I can’t sit back and watch as the bigger parties, give up on their climate commitments and devastate our public services and continue with business as usual. I want to get Green ideas, values and policies onto the agenda and into the inbox of the incoming UK Government. Only the Scottish Greens are saying we’re adamantly opposed to new oil and gas and a 100% renewable energy transition. And that’s what we want to see.”
She believes that as the local candidate she has an edge in the area. She said: “I live in Musselburgh. I’m quite embedded in the community now. I’ve been there for two years, and I’ve joined lots of local groups like Sustaining Musselburgh, Yes Musselburgh, and Musselburgh Street Clean. I’m a longtime campaigner on climate change and social justice. Since I moved to Edinburgh in 2007, and went to University of Edinburgh here. Before that, I grew up in California, where I was a professional ballet dancer. And then I worked in the arts and culture in Edinburgh, before getting more into politics. Now I work for a Green MSP in The Scottish Parliament so I think I’ve developed a lot of skills and political nouse and knowledge of policy that I can bring to this role.”
The Edinburgh Reporter asked if she thought the SNP representation of the area had been wanting in any respects during the last 10 years.
She was quite clear that the SNP have in her view been less than successful. She said: “The SNP you know, they’re known by some as a party of sort of social democracy, but they’re not really anymore, and they haven’t been able to change Westminster in that regard. They haven’t been able to secure their main objective, which is independence for Scotland – of course, the Greens support that as well.
“But now we’re trying to take a more realistic tack in calling for full devolution of remaining powers from Westminster. So my priorities are number one action on the climate emergency. We know that many voters want a government that takes it seriously and takes care of people and planet. Another key priority is helping people with the cost of living crisis and actually helping them rise out of poverty for good – not just keep them on the poverty line, as the Tories are doing with more benefit cuts in order to fund tax cuts for the rich.
“And third, we want to create a fairer economy that works for people and planet by bringing in a wealth tax on the richest 1% using that to raise £75 billion in revenue to be invested in public services, the green transition and help with the cost of living crisis.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
