The problem with canvassing is you never know what you are going to be asked. This can also be a good thing if you are up to the job. People have always got something unexpected to say. They can ask specific questions about which I have no information to hand, or very general ones - like 'what are you going to do about Europe'. Whatever the question, the fact it has been asked is a good sign that people are thinking for themselves. Democracy is only as good as the information people have available on which to make their choices. No one should ever be afraid to ask and given the chance I will always answer.

If I am asked a question to which I have no specific answer (which is not often these days), I do the same thing as when I want to know the Green Party position on anything. I clear my mind of preconceptions - as far as that is ever possible - and ask my heart. That is a hard thing for me to write as it reads as if I am slightly mad or at best trying to avoid the question. Quite the opposite in fact.

I believe that basically everyone has the same set of needs and desires as everyone else. They may conflict, and frequently do, but when laid out clearly I have always found there is a way to sort most things out. To make this answer trick work it is essential to be honest with myself - as well as with the people who ask me what I would do if elected. The check for my internal clarity of thought comes when I read the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society - the Green Party manifesto, I have so far always found the same answer there as I found when I ask myself. When that kept on happening I joined the party as a life member.

Sometimes, if I have no personal answer, the MFSS gives me new in-sites. It's a very odd thing, but it works for me. Try it yourself. The MFSS is on the Green Party national website at http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss. I am proud to say that I helped in a draft of the Philosophical Basis to the Party's thinking. This underlies everything we do, and that covers everything that needs to be done.

By the way, if I or any elected Green does not like what they read, the Green Party does not have any sort of 'whip' or party line that it's representatives are bound to follow. We are bound only by what we say we will do and what we think is right for everyone now and in the future.

You may say - as some have - 'so you think you know better than us?', well, would you vote for someone who knew less? It's our job to know what you don't have the time to find out, or it will be if I am elected. Anyway, it's not what you know, it what you do about it that counts and the way it is done.

Greens have a 'way' of doing things, a 'way' that will work because it is very close to the way things are done already. The Green difference is that our way does not make the planet accidentally uninhabitable, it gives hope and encouragement for life in all it's forms and to all the many and varied ways people wish to live it.

Green Party of England and Wales
Manifesto for a Sustainable Society

The MfSS is a statement of the policies needed to fulfil the Green Vision and create a society based on ecological sustainability and social justice. It is not a programme for a single term of government, but an expression of what is necessary to achieve these long term goals.

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MfSS is organised into chapters covering particular policy areas. These vary in size and complexity, but each chapter follows a broad structure of introduction & background, objectives, long and short term specific policies.

Each paragraph is numbered with a code consisting of the 2 letter identifier for the chapter followed by three digits. This provides a means for finding and cross-referencing between chapters. You can use the box on the left to preview or jump directly to a specific paragraph.

Current MfSS Chapters

CHAPTER	CODE	Last edited date	Record of Policy Statements
PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS	PB	Winter 2007 by referendum
Agriculture	AG	Autumn '05	'94 '95 '01
Animal Rights	AR	Spring '07	'99 '03 '05 '06
Climate Change	CC	Spring '08	'00 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '08 '09
Countryside	CY	Spring '97	'95 '96 '04 '06
Crime Prevention	CJ	Spring '09	'05 '09
Culture Media & Sport	CMS	created Autumn '07	'96 '04 '08
Disability	DY	Spring '01
Drugs	DU	Autumn '06	'04
Economy	EC	Spring '09	'91 '95-'98 '02 '04 '05 '06 '09
Education	ED	Spring '07	'05 '06
Energy	EN	revised Spring '08 Spring '09	'90 '01 '02 '03 '07 '09
Europe	EU	Spring '09	'98 '99 '02 '03 '04 '05
Fisheries	FI	Autumn '95
Food	FD	Autumn '01	'97 '03 '04 '05
Forestry	FR	pre 1995	'93
Health	HE	Spring '09	'97 '03 '04 '06 '07 '08 '09
Housing	HO	Spring '07	'94 '07
Industry	IN	Spring '05
International Policy	IP	Spring '07	every year since '98 !
Land	LD	Autumn '00
Local Planning & the Built Environment	LP	Autumn '06	'95 '99 '02
Marine Industry	MI	Autumn '96
Migration	MG	Spring '09	'01
Nationality	NY	Autumn '96
Natural Resources & Waste Management	NR	Spring '07	'03 '04 '07
Peace & Defence	PD	Autumn '02	'95 '99 '01-'06 '09
Pollution	PL	Autumn '02	'03 '04
Population	PP	Spring '03
Public Administration & Government	PA	created Autumn '07
Refugees & Asylum Seekers	RA	Spring '09	'01 '04 '08
Responsibilities and Rights	RR	Spring '04	'95 '96 '00 '02 '03 '04
Science & Technology	ST	Spring '01
Social Welfare	SW	Autumn '04	'01 '08
Tourism	TM	revised Spring '09
Transport	TR	Autumn '06	'02 '04 '06 '07 '08 '09
Workers' Rights & Employment	WR	Autumn '04	'02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '09