Green Party select new Lewes parliamentary candidate for general election

Lewes District councillor Emily has been outspoken on local planning and environmental issues, regularly challenging government ministers and Lewes MP Maria Caulfield over government policy on the housing targets.

Emily commented: “The last week has been enough to make even the most loyal Conservative voters lose faith in the government.

"When I talk to local people about the last two years of Conservative rule, they are so fed up that they are losing faith in politicians and politics altogether.

“In the Green Party we've often struggled to turn our very successful council election results into votes for Parliament, but all I am hearing now is that people are ready for a change.”

Emily O’Brien has said she will push for the Green Party’s policies on climate and nature with a focus on tackling the ‘broken planning system’ and the cost of living crisis.

She has also vowed to launch a campaign to change the MPs’ code of conduct, which would require all MPs to tell the truth.

Emily said: “We need people who can be trusted, and who can speak out for their residents, not toe the line on a party political system that no longer makes sense.

“Our local MP has appeared on national television standing up for Boris Johnson, defending the indefensible and local people will not forget that.

“My first steps will be to launch a campaign for a change in the MPs' code of conduct, that would require all MPs to tell the truth.”

Have you read this? East Sussex schools take in hundreds of Ukrainian refugee pupils

Emily co-founded campaign group Community Action Newhaven which opposed the Brett Aggregates concrete plant application near Tide Mills.

Recently, she lead calls from the council for Southern Water to report links between housing development and sewage being released into waterways.