GREEN Party candidates launch their campaign today (Thursday) with a message to disillusioned Labour voters: we are the only left-wing alternative.
Hampstead and Highgate candidate Sian Berry admits her aim is to keep her deposit and prepare the ground for a bid to win a council seat at the next local elections.
Holborn and St Pancras, where candidate Adrian Oliver is standing, has been identified by the Greens nationally as one of five seats they could win.
But in the north of the borough, Ms Berry, who works for the faculty of medicine at Imperial College in South Kensington, admitted that voting for her would be a good way for disgruntled Labour voters to register a protest.
She said: “We stand for social justice and a vote for us will send a clear message to Labour that this must be the corner-stone of government policy.”
She also attacked the government over Iraq, and said voters should not be hoodwinked by the Lib-Dems’ apparent anti-war stance.
She said: “We are the only party who have been consistent. Unlike the Lib-Dems, we were always against the war.
“We want to see the troops brought home straight away and Tony Blair impeached for breaking international law. We would also like to see Britain’s stockpile of weapons of mass destruction scrapped. That would send a clear example to the rest of the world.”
Ms Berry believes a Green MP could play an important role as a backbencher. She said: “We are not going to be in control of government but what we have found with our European MPs is that Greens are effective scrutinisers of policy.”
Ms Berry and Mr Oliver both did well in the council elections 2002, where they stood in Highgate ward.
Ms Berry won 10 per cent of the vote – and missed out on becoming a councillor by 39 votes. Mr Oliver polled only 43 votes fewer than her.
She said: “We have a good base of support here and Green councillors can make a difference on local issues.”