THE FORMER Birmingham Poet Laureate, Giovanni Esposito, is in the running to become the Green Party’s Prospective Party Candidate for Bromsgrove.
Ahead of May’s general election, ‘Spoz’ was approached by party bosses about the role and, after giving it a lot of thought, he put himself forward.
He said he agreed with a lot of the party’s policies and wanted to campaign on issues such as tax fairness, adding politicians from all parties, entrepreneurs and businesses having off-shore accounts and evading tax frustrated and angered him – as it did with a lot of people.
He added he also wanted to speak up for the arts, as well as the environmental issues.
“I think it is time to put my money where my mouth is.
“It’s like this recent situation with Artrix and the funding now only being £60,000-a-year.
“£120,000 is chicken feed for the council to help run an arts centre of that magnitude and something needs to be done – especially with us having the Culture Secretary representing the constituency.”
On environmental issues he said: “I’m against fracking – why should we be wringing out the earth for the last bits of fossil fuel when we should be investing in sustainable energy.
“A lot of it is just common sense – we need more wind farms and solar power.
“The last time there was high winds, the turbines generated a lot more energy than the amount which came from our nuclear power stations combined.
“We also need to invest and look into ways of storing energy.”
He said he felt he would also hopefully be able to encourage more first-time voters to head to the polls.
“I have done a lot of work with young people over the years and I think I can resonate with them.”
Alistair Waugh, from the Bromsgrove and Redditch Green Party said: “It’s great a well-known and respected local performer and activist is on board.
“The Green Party has seen a recent surge of support and now boasts 50,000 members, well above that of UKIP and the Liberal Democrats.
“Locally, almost half of our local membership joined during the last month.
“We plan to offer voters the chance to vote for the Green Party in as many local council seats as possible across the two towns.”
For the first time, a crowd-funding website has been used to raise the cash for the deposits to fight the general election seats in Bromsgrove and Redditch.
The members of the Bromsgrove and Redditch Green Party will be balloted on their preferred choice of candidate.
The result will be known by March 6 and then popular poet and performer Spoz will know if he is to contest the seat currently held by the Culture Secretary.
