Meeting held on Monday 20th May 2019
16 people were present. Four sent their apologies.
We were delighted that one of us had won a seat to be a councillor for the Green Party for the High Peak in recent Borough Council elections. She had worked hard, canvassing, etc., to achieve this. The Labour Party had not put up a candidate in her ward. There was no formal agreement: the party does not accept such arrangements. We felt that the other parties should be more ready to make agreements in order to force the Tories out.
In other canvassing, it was reported that people felt unease and depression about politics, saying they were not interested. It seemed that many are confused about the role of the UK in the world and annoyed with politicians. However, since the referendum on Scottish independence there has been a growing involvement in politics amongst the public who more readily discuss political matters. If now they are irritated with politicians, before, they were oblivious of political matters. Many people who normally support Labour are saying they will vote Green. Recent concerns about environmental degradation and climate change, as well as a wish to remain in EU, may be behind such changes.
But is Brexit really the most important issue? Corbyn had his motion passed in Parliament to declare an Environmental as well as Climate Emergency. He has refused to come down strongly in favour or Remain, arguing that it is more important that the next Prime Minister can bring the two halves of the country together rather than be seen as strong protagonist of either leave or remain. It is also more important to focus on the issues of the environment and inequality. The media seems unwilling to report such issues, preferring to stir up the drama of Leave versus Remain as an either-or conflict. We should not allow concerns about Brexit to mask the real social, environmental and economic problems we face.
The Transition Hope Valley group and others have set up a meeting on The Environment and Climate Change in the Memorial Hall, Hathersage, on 24th June at 7.30pm. There is also to be an anti-fracking event on Sunday 9th June at 4pm on top of the ridge at Mam Tor. We also hoped there would be action against banks who fund building more coal powered stations in Asia.
Speculating about the next six months, it was suggested that May’s Brexit deal would fail; Farage would win 30% of the vote in the EU Elections; Johnson would become PM; we would crash out of the EU; there would be a general election; and Labour would win on a manifesto of anti-austerity and climate emergency. We’ll see!