10 December 2019
Simon Bull, Green Party candidate for Bournemouth West in the General Election, attended the constituency hustings event last night.
The event at West Cliff Baptist Church on 9th December 2019 also featured the other candidates: Conor Burns (Conservative incumbent), David Stokes (Labour), and Jon Nicholas (Lib Dem).
Here is a video and a transcript of Simon's opening speech:
"Thank you all for coming along this evening, to take part in this event.
"As we come here tonight, as we stand here (or sit here), our planet is in crisis. The environment that we depend on is being abused and plundered, with no thought to the future, no consideration of the needs of the next generation. This needs to change. This needs to be the Climate Election, the time when we say no more, let's take real, serious action for the sake of the planet and the sake of our children.
"But also, this country is very divided. We're divided on many levels. We can see that the schools and hospitals are badly financed. The NHS is in a mess through lack of funding. Austerity has caused great hardship to people, and we've got very little to show for it, except a hugely increased national debt.
"Housing and homelessness, if you walk through the streets of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, you'll see many homeless people. People who are struggling with their housing situation. People who can't afford to put a roof over their heads. This shouldn't be right in the fifth biggest economy in the world. This also needs to change, we shouldn't have nurses going to food banks so they can eat. There is a widening gap between the rich and the poor.
"OK I've got 10 seconds left, so what I will say is we need to reverse these cuts, put an end to austerity, which has got us nowhere... and make a big change. Thank you."
