London Greens are pledging to impose a ban on ads for meat and dairy and help facilitate pro-Palestine protests if they win local elections this week.
The party’s manifesto in Hackney also promises to ‘de-twin’ from the Israeli city of Haifa and help illegal immigrants access council services.
The extraordinary platform could start being implemented within days, as Labour stares down the barrel of defeat in a borough it has dominated for decades.
A major poll released today by More in Common suggests Zack Polanski’s party could take charge of the council, with a 3 percentage point lead.
It would be the first time the Greens have received the highest vote share in a London borough – although the party is also within touching distance in Islington, Lambeth and Lewisham.
The Hackney Green Party manifesto for the elections lays out its plans for what would follow a victory
The document says the party wants to ‘build on’ an ‘ethical’ policy that prohibits ‘high-carbon’ advertising on council sites
The Hackney Green Party lays out its plans for what would follow a victory in the manifesto, titled ‘Hope for Hackney’.
It says the party wants to ‘build on’ an ‘ethical’ policy that prohibits ‘high-carbon’ advertising on council sites.
That could be extended to bar ‘meat and dairy adverts’. ‘We will also lobby the national government to legislate to give councils more powers to block and remove advertising sites,’ the document adds.
The manifesto also makes clear that the council will take a new approach to Israel and Palestine.
‘Despite repeated, mass community calls for de-twinning, the Labour-led Council has consistently refused to cut ties with the Israeli city of Haifa under the twinning (aka ‘sister cities’) scheme,’ the document says.
‘In Haifa, Palestinian people live under occupation and apartheid by the Israeli state; this is not a city that reflects Hackney’s values.’
The prospectus complains that Hackney Council currently invests its pension fund in global markets and funds that ‘include companies profiting from genocide, war, occupation, environmental destruction and social degradation’.
‘This must end. Hackney Green Councillors, Hackney Independent Socialist Collective Councillors, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Hackney for Palestine and so many other campaigners and activists have worked tirelessly to get the current Labour-led council to withdraw the council’s pension funds from complicit companies (a process known as divestment).
‘At almost every opportunity, the Labour-led council has blocked debate or a vote on this, despite council staff and pension recipients clearly stating that they want to see ethical investments of their pension money. A Green-led Hackney Council would take action at the earliest opportunity.’
The funds would also be barred from investing in fossil fuels, gambling or tobacco.
The manifesto highlights that Hackney Mayor candidate Zoe Garbett has condemned ‘misuse and abuse of powers, and disproportionate use of force against the pro-Palestinian movement’.
It commits to ‘respect peaceful protest on council land in visible places, such as in front of Hackney Town Hall’.
The Greens say they want to ‘defend and protect the rights of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities’.
The manifesto pledges to ‘make sure trans residents can access all areas of public life’ – suggesting there will be a push to allow trans people to use single-sex toilets.
‘We will provide support for organisations to invest in inclusive facilities, such as accessible, gender-neutral toilets, and we will lobby nationally for the Code of Practice to be rewritten to allow for trans inclusion in single-sex services,’ the document says.
A section on migration condemns Labour for introducing ‘policies that cause untold harm to migrants and their families’.
The manifesto says the Government has ‘used inflammatory rhetoric against migrants, emboldening the far-Right to the point where we now have fascists marching on our streets’
The manifesto says the Government has ‘used inflammatory rhetoric against migrants, emboldening the far-Right to the point where we now have fascists marching on our streets’.
It suggests ‘providing more opportunities for migrants to access services in their own languages’.
The Greens also propose ‘extending council services such as rough sleeping and domestic violence support so that immigration status isn’t a barrier’.
Another commitment is to ‘ensure that people accessing our services can do so knowing that their information will not be shared with immigration enforcement agencies’.
