This month Green Party Women are featuring our dedicated members working to secure Green votes in the 2024 General Election. Today, we are highlighting Amanda Onwuemene.
Amanda is the Green Party’s Parliamentary Candidate for Buckingham and Bletchley. Many of our members will already know Amanda. She is the party’s National Spokesperson for Policing and Domestic Violence. She is also, a current, twice elected Green Party Councillor for Birkenhead and Tranmere, and Chair of Greens of Colour.
As a former nurse, midwife, health visitor, and lecturer currently working in Adult Mental Health, Amanda is passionate about increasing the funding, resourcing, and staffing of the NHS. She believes this is essential to ensure that people can have GP and dental appointments when needed and have access to properly funded Children and Adult Health and Social Services.
People over profits
Amanda is critical of privatisation, arguing that it hasn’t worked for post offices, railways, buses, utilities, or water, and it won’t work for the NHS either. She emphasises the need to take back control of services and prioritise people over profit. After years of austerity and neglect, she insists that all public services need improvement, which requires investment in infrastructure and people. She highlights the need to repair crumbling schools and hospitals, mend potholes, provide affordable housing, and ensure reliable public transport. Additionally, she believes everyone should be paid a decent wage and have access to green spaces and warm, affordable housing, making life enjoyable.
Caring and the environment
Amanda underscores the importance of caring for families, neighbours, communities, and humanity. She notes that the Green Party was the first to call for a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza and stresses that the party cares about people and the environment. The Green Party’s manifesto, scoring 98% as credible, aims to vastly improve the natural world, woodlands, and biodiversity.
Amanda questions the tolerance for sewage in the water system, polluted air, ineffective flood defences, unfair rent increases, and no-fault evictions. The Green Party understands that life cannot be enjoyed under the increasing stresses endured over the past 14 years. Amanda asserts that everyone deserves better.
She also outlines what the Green Party is offering: clean water, fresh air, free social care, and massive investment in public services to help people live longer and healthier lives. The party proposes rent controls, improved wages and work conditions, warm housing, unpolluted air, safe streets, and free education. Amanda argues that this is not utopia but a baseline and that the country cannot endure austerity for another four years.
Amanda highlights that the government has reduced its funding to Buckinghamshire Council by 53% over the last five years. She questions what the next four years will look like for the NHS, farmers, rivers, and energy bills without seismic change. The Green Party plans to heavily invest in services. reversing the destruction of the past 14 years, funded by a wealth tax of 1% on assets over 10 million pounds and 2% on assets over a billion pounds.
Amanda says:
“A better life is achievable. We all want comfort, peace and safety.
Vote for an MP who wants Parliament to represent you and not big business.
Green MPs are not whipped, that means we don’t have to tow the party line if we feel it wont benefit our constituents…and unlike the other 3 parties, we will not be punished for voting in a way that works for the people that voted for us..
on the contrary, The green Party is aware that the one size fits all approach cannot work across a country where constituents needs might be completely at odds depending on where you live.
So if you want to be part of a real change’ a sizemic change to reverse the problems we are all facing due to the path taken by the present Govt and which will not change without the amount of investment outlined by the Green Party within our fully costed manifesto as agreed by BBC4!
Vote for me Amanda Onwuemene
Vote Real Change,
Vote for the Green Party”
Learn more about Amanda by following her on her X account.