We caught up with Green Party candidate, Jeremy Brignell-Thorp, who is seeking your votes in the upcoming general election.

Why should voters support you and the Green Party?

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I am Jeremy Brignell-Thorp and I am standing for the Green Party in this 2024 election.

The main reason I am standing for the Green Party is because we are the only party that taking the climate crisis seriously and we would press for much more rapid decarbonsation.

But UK politics is broken in more than just the response to the climate crisis. The NHS has record waiting lists, young people are unable to find a house to live in, our rivers are polluted and schools are struggling to copy with severe funding cuts.

The Green Party says that we need a new start. We spend about 20% less on our health service than the average across Europe. We would invest in the NHS so that waiting lists can be cut and everyone can access an NHS dentist.

We would introduce rent controls so that housing rents do not increase beyond what can be afforded and we would re-nationalise the water companies so that their profits are re-invested in repairing the infrastructure rather than being distributed to shareholders.

This would have to be paid for and we propose two main ways this would be done. Firstly via a wealth tax, applying to anyone who owns more than £10m in assets and this would be taxed at 1%, rising to 2% on assets over £1bn.

We would also raise the rate of Capital Gains Tax (the tax you pay if you make a profit on buying and selling assets, such as company shares) to be the same as income tax.

Neither of these would affect any of the households struggling to pay rent or household bills. We believe that people would prefer to pay slightly more for an NHS that actually works, rather than make do with the current broken system.

And we would invest in a housing energy efficiency programme to make housing cheaper to run, and more comfortable to live in, as well as cutting carbon emissions.

A bit about me now.  I did my A levels at Newtown High School, and after moving away after University, I moved back to Mid Wales in 1995 and have for the last 15 years devoted myself to getting involved in community projects and campaigning on the Climate Emergency.

I am currently a councillor on Powys County Council but prior to that spent 10 years working for a local social enterprise called Sharenergy helping to set up community owned renewable energy schemes.

If you want real hope and real change, please vote for the Green Party on July 4th.

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The candidates in the running for your votes in Montgomeryshire & Glyndwr are:

• Jeremy Brignell-Thorp (Green Party)
• Oliver Lewis (Reform UK)
• Glyn Preston (Liberal Democrat)
• Elwyn Vaughan (Plaid Cymru)
• Craig Williams (TBC)
• Steve Witherden (Labour)