Green Party

Adrian leading the Green agenda

From the Eastern Daily Press, 12 September 2008

From a university student to deputy leader of the Green Party in less than a decade, Norwich city councillor Adrian Ramsay has certainly made an impact on the political stage.

And now, aged just 27, he is leader of the largest group of Green councillors in the country, deputy leader of the party and has his sights firmly set on becoming the first Green MP.

He joined the party in Norwich when he was 16, hoping to encourage recycling in the streets around his home. It was when he was studying for a degree at the University of East Anglia that he became more involved in politics, and aged 21 he was elected as councillor for Norwich's Nelson ward.

Since giving his first speech as deputy leader at the party's national conference on Monday, he has worked non-stop to affirm his commitment to his new role working alongside Caroline Lucas, a Euro MP who became the party's first leader at the weekend, to help secure the Greens' first Westminster seats.

He said: "In the past we were seen as an outside party, but now that we've got large council groups in a number of places and a leadership team hoping to break through into Westminster, there is suddenly a lot more interest in what we have to say.

"My personal aim is to become an MP. Getting into Westminster is the single biggest thing we have to do to promote and lobby for our policies on a national level."

Although several of his critics have questioned whether someone so young can be a strong voice in national politics, he said that never having had a different job did not mean he was not qualified to be a councillor and politician.

"What we stand for - issues surrounding climate change and poverty - is something urgent, and so putting it off for 30 years to pursue another career seemed a bit pointless.

"When I was first elected as a councillor there were some officers and other councillors who found it surprising and unusual for someone of my age to be involved, but now they've seen that I take the job seriously, people have got used to it.

"People are quite interested in the fact that I'm younger than most councillors. I think that having a more diverse range of people in politics can only be a good thing," he said.

His youth and enthusiasm seem to have had a positive impact on voters in Norwich - in the local elections in May this year, the Greens obtained 33pc of votes across Norwich South and were 3,000 votes ahead of Labour.

Norwich City Council now has the largest group of Green councillors in the country with 13 seats - up three following this year's local elections, gaining councillors in Mancroft, Thorpe Hamlet and Town Close wards.

Labour did not gain any seats this May but held on to 15 wards, making Norwich Greens the main opposition party on the council under Mr Ramsay's lead.

His performance in the local election bodes well for the next general election, where he hopes to take the parliamentary seat from former home secretary Charles Clarke.

In the 2005 general election, Mr Ramsay came fourth in the fight for Norwich South with 3,100 votes - 7.4pc of those cast - compared to Mr Clarke's nearly 16,000 votes - 38pc.

Third-placed candidate, Conservative Anthony Little, obtained 9,500 votes - 22pc of those cast - and Liberal Democrat hopeful Andrew Aalders-Dunthorne gained 29pc with just over 12,000 votes.

With policies ranging from tackling poverty to promoting renewable energy, Mr Ramsay, who lives with his partner Jenny on Suffolk Square in Norwich, said he lived as green a life as he could - he cycles around

the city and he does not fly for holidays.

His only slight environmental vice, he admits, is that he cannot have a compost heap for leftover food scraps because he lives in a flat.

He believes that small lifestyle changes, like composting or not using dozens of supermarket carrier bags, would be the most effective way of reducing the impact of climate change and even the credit crunch.

As well as growing food and producing more goods locally, he said people should be encouraged to take a look back 50 years and live more traditional lifestyles.

"In the past, there were charges on glass bottles so you had to return them to be reused to get the money back. We could do more to reuse items as well as recycling.

"In the war, there was the attitude to conserve materials and not be wasteful with food and so on. I think that the way in which people worked together and had a collective, community atmosphere is needed again to tackle our problems with excess waste, landfill and climate change."

And while Mr Ramsay seems to have taken his rise through the political ranks well and truly in his stride, he admits that he has been surprised by the growth of the Greens in Norwich in the last year.

"Even a year ago when we decided to change the party structure, I was never expecting to take a role, but after my success in the May elections people encouraged me to stand.

"I didn't think we would grow as quickly as we have in Norwich, but as more people get involved and see that we are successful, we are gathering more momentum all the time.

"There's a sense of enthusiasm all through the party and last weekend's conference showed that - there was a great atmosphere. The number of people in the city who have come up to congratulate me has been amazing."