News / Politics
Greens continue ‘relentless focus’ on Bristol Central
Saturday morning started for Green Party campaigners in the back garden of a house in Cotham.
Dozens of members had made their way from across the UK to Bristol in order to help Carla Denyer, their party’s co-leader and candidate for Bristol Central, who told them that winning this seat is “within our reach”.
Denyer was joined on Saturday by former Green leader Natalie Bennett, now a member of the House of Lords where it has been rumoured that Thangam Debbonaire could be elevated to if she loses.
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“This is absolutely achievable,” Denyer told the party activists in Cotham before they dispersed to all four corners of the new constituency.
“It’s within our reach. But it’s not yet firmly in both hands.”
Denyer said that the Greens’ own data is showing that it is “unbelievably close” between Greens and Labour in Bristol Central, with the Tories and Lib Dems “absolutely nowhere to be seen” and polling on four or five per cent compared to Greens and Labour neck and neck at 46 per cent.
Denyer told the Green campaigners that “every single conversation you have on the doorstep makes a difference and that’s part of what’s so positive and buoying… is that unlike in many constituencies across the country, people’s votes here are really powerful.
“They have a really good opportunity, a really high chance, of changing the outcome and making history.”
The former Clifton Down councillor added: “This relentless focus on the number of seats we can win this time, which you have all embodied by coming here this weekend, is how we’re going to do this.”
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and former leader Natalie Bennett talk to campaigners in Cotham – photo: Rob Browne
After Denyer’s speech, the campaigners were lined up to pose for photographs with placards held aloft.
“Go, Carla!” the gathered party members cheered several times in unison soon after 10am, just to get the best take for social media, prompting someone from a nearby house to shout “fuck off!” almost as loudly.
And then it was time to either stay in the house in Cotham to address envelopes, or go out door-knocking or leafleting.
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Read more: These are the 61 general election candidates in the Bristol area
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On stepping outside the house, Denyer was presented with an air filter for the Green Party office by brothers Joshua, six, and Louis, 11, before posing for a photograph with the Green parliamentary candidate for Henel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, Sherief Hassan.
Denyer herself then headed to Kellaway Avenue, right on the edge of the new Bristol Central constituency – with the northern side of the road in Bristol North West which incumbent Labour MP Darren Jones is hoping to hold and where Conservative candidate Laura Saunders has lost the support of her own party.
“It’s a team effort,” Denyer told the young party members accompanying her, with Redland councillor Martin Fodor soon joining them as they worked out which houses to visit.
In nearby Bishopston, a recent visit by bicycle found noticeably more Labour posters than Greens.
But in Redland, there was more green than red in windows and front gardens, with 700 Green Party poster boards now in place across Bristol Central from Hotwells in the west to St Werburgh’s in the east, Bishopston in the north to Redcliffe in the south.
“We’re not yet at target,” Green Party campaign manager Miles Thorpe told campaigners before they left Cotham, brandishing poster boards still ready to be found locations.
“When you speak to people, when you find Green voters, get poster boards up!”
Thorpe added: “Every person you speak to, every door that you knock, helps chip away at those overall numbers so it’s really worthwhile.”
Carla Denyer talks to a member of the public while out campaigning in Redland – photo: Rob Browne
As she crossed Bishop Road, Denyer – carrying a bag featuring the logo of 50:50 Parliament, a charity working to help women progress in politics – struck up conversation with a voter.
“I’m not so impressed by a lot of the others,” he assured Denyer.
He told her that she will get his vote in a constituency in which the Greens hope that their relentless focus will pay dividends in the early hours of Friday morning.
All of the candidates on the ballot paper for Bristol Central are due to take part in Bristol24/7’s hustings at the Bristol Beacon on Monday, July 1. For those unable to attend in person, the event will be livestreamed via the Bristol24/7 YouTube channel from 7pm. If you want to ask a question, please email editor@bristol247.com
Main photo: Rob Browne
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