HDV going to Court of Appeal.

HDV going to Court of Appeal.

 Grateful for any promotion of second round of crowdfunding, for HDV going to Court of Appeal.

We are challenging on all four grounds and the judge has left that open as in one case he says that the outcome may well have been different if Haringey had consulted on HDV which it was admitted they did not.

The judgement rests in good part on our being ‘’out of time’’ but there is a very strong case that we could not challenge the decision until it was in fact set up in July 2017.

And it will matter for Councils, and local democracy across the country, if we can get a ruling against the way in which Cabinet was used to determine assets transfer and strategic decisions, exclusive of the Council, and wider public.

The political battle has now been won locally, and is reverberating more widely. But the HDV is only halted, not stopped altogether.

http://bit.ly/2nZiiDB

The renewed crowdfunder — for the £7k more for Appeal - needs some punters again.

Greens for a Fossil Fuels Free Brent Pension Fund

Brent Green Party support this petition to ask Brent Council to divest its pension fund from fossil fuel companies that contribute to global warming and catastrophic climate change.

Sign the petition HERE


Brent Council should divest its pension fund from fossil fuel companies to protect the people of Brent. So we ask Brent Council to make a public divestment statement committing the Brent Pension Fund to:

1. Immediately freeze any new investment in the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies with largest known carbon reserves (oil, coal and gas) [0]
2. Divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds in the top 200 list and shift these funds to lower risk, ethical investments before the May 2022 Council elections
3. Advocate to other pension funds, including the London Pension Fund Authority and Local Government Pension Scheme members to do the same
4. To do the above in a timely manner - by setting up a working group to report back on a strategy to bring about divestment within three months from the submission of this petition

Why is this important?

We believe divestment from fossil fuels to be not only ethically and environmentally correct, but also financially prudent. 

Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has encountered. The 20 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1981 and 2016 was the hottest ever [1]. Higher average temperatures are directly linked to extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and storms. 

Scientists have unanimously concluded that these changes are a consequence of human activity, arising from the burning of fossil fuels [2]. Moreover, this activity has resulted in unprecedented levels of air pollution, now regarded as a major world killer [3].

In a speech at Lloyd’s of London in September 2015, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England said that by the time ‘climate change becomes a defining issue for financial stability, it may already be too late’. Carney warned investors that policies to address climate change ‘would render the vast majority of reserves ‘stranded’ – oil, gas and coal that will be literally unburnable’ [4].

In order to continue developing fossil fuel reserves – particularly in the difficult areas where the remaining reserves are located (including the Arctic, the mouth of the Amazon and tar sands in sensitive areas) the developing companies need investment – divestment is a way of cutting off the funds needed to carry out these damaging activities. It also sends a powerful signal to the companies and others that it is time to move away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.

References:
[0] http://tinyurl.com/lmskfgk
[1] http://tinyurl.com/y9tkm4sn
[2] http://tinyurl.com/3e3zv
[3] http://tinyurl.com/pqgdd5q
[4] http://tinyurl.com/ycspl5sg

Will you join me this Saturday to defend our NHS?

My dad was a doctor in the NHS all his working life. My son is disabled and relies on the NHS for his wellbeing. I know how precious our health service is.

Will you join me this Saturday to defend our NHS?

I’ll be addressing tens of thousands of people this Saturday, all coming together defend our NHS against this Government’s savage attacks and cuts.

Make no mistake. It’s not the disabled who are responsible for our NHS crisis. It’s not the elderly. It’s not immigrants. It’s not the tireless doctors and nurses and staff. 

Our Government has caused this crisis. 

This is just one reason we need to fight for a vote on the final Brexit deal. We have to protect freedom of movement to keep our NHS on its feet. And we can’t fight austerity while we’re punished by a hard Brexit, overseen by a Government which wants to marketise our healthcare.

This Saturday, I’ll be calling on all parties to support a vote on the final Brexit deal - so we can revive, reinstate, and restore our NHS. 

Join me to defend our NHS. 

See you on the streets,

Jonathan Bartley

Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales.