Selection Results

The count for the Green Party London Assembly list selection was held yesterday. The result is subject to validation by the London Green Party at its meeting on Monday 19 March, so I'm not publishing the result here, but the good news is that it looks like I've made it onto the list (just).

Don't forget to vote

Attention London Green Party members. The deadline for voting in the selection for the Green Party Mayoral candidate and London Assembly list is this Thursday (8 March), so you need to get your ballot papers in the post today if you haven't already.

Don't forget that the incumbents and well-known figures will receive lots of first preferences anyway, so the best way to ensure new blood in the winnable places at the top of the list is to give candidates like me your first preference rather than just putting us in your top four.

But whoever, you vote for, please do vote. Thanks.

Assembly in shambles

Paul Kelso's "Digger" column in today's Guardian shows just how badly we need more Greens on the London Assembly if we're going to get anything like a Green Olympics.

The London Assembly again demonstrated its inability to hold the Olympic project to account yesterday, blowing a chance to question the organising committee's top brass, Sebastian Coe and Paul Deighton, and its chief executive, David Higgins. Given the chance to check on the all-important issue of the rising costs assembly members instead engaged in self-indulgent grandstanding, bickered over time limits for asking questions and offered lengthy statements instead of inquiries. They then had the cheek to issue a statement claiming Londoners were still in the dark about costs. Lord Coe, Deighton and Higgins will have been glad to have got off so lightly from shambolic proceedings overseen by the assembly chairman, [Tory] Brian Coleman.

London Assembly List - Personal Statement

This is my statement as circulated to all members of London Green Party as part of the London Assembly list selection process.


London faces a number of challenges between now and 2012. In the run up to the Olympics we will see the one of the largest redevelopments for many decades, affecting large parts of East London. I have years of experience of campaigning with residents to ensure maximum community benefit and environmental sustainability in the Arsenal stadium redevelopment. As the London Assembly candidate for North East London in 2004 I gained the highest Green vote in London – partly because of my work with community groups campaigning against the negative impacts of the Olympic bid. My experience will help us build on this work to secure the greenest possible games with maximum environmental and community legacy.

Over the next five years the global nature of the games will serve to keep the spotlight on the single largest challenge we face as Londoners and citizens of planet earth – the impact of climate change. We are already seeing the establishment parties attempting to jump on the green bicycle and peddle themselves as the solution to this crisis of their own making. Having Greens on the London Assembly has lead the Mayor to take some quite dramatic steps compared with other establishment politicians. But as capital of the UK and, more importantly, as a world city London must go much further and become a global leader in tackling climate change. That is why it is vital that we not only elect more Greens to the London Assembly, but that we elect Greens with a track record of successful campaigning.

We often talk about the Green Party as the party of the future. If we are to fulfil this promise we must aim to at least double our representation on the London Assembly and bring new blood into the winnable places at the top of our list. Although only 34, I have a wealth of relevant experience. I was elected national Vice-Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at 23; I have ten years experience as a professional campaigner and fundraiser in the field of peace and human rights and at the last General Election I secured one of the best Green results in London. I was Election Agent in Islington for the 2002 council elections and a lead candidate in Highbury West where we elected our first Green Councillor last May. I played a key role in producing election publications in the 2004 GLA/Euro elections and currently serve on the Party's National Executive as Publications Co-ordinator.

Only the Green Party can offer the practical solutions that London urgently needs to help dramatically reduce the city's ecological footprint, to ensure an adequate supply of sustainable, affordable housing and to strengthen our communities by defending public services and fighting for social justice.

I believe that my Green vision for London, combined with my abilities and experience would make me a valuable member of the winning Green team in 2008. Please vote Jon Nott – 1 on your London Assembly list ballot paper today.