Greens ‘mark their card’ for by-election against Boris

THE OXFORDSHIRE Green Party has re-selected Mark Stevenson as their candidate for the Henley Constituency by-election expected within the next couple of months.
When Boris Johnson resigns as MP for Henley, Mark Stevenson will be the Green candidate in the subsequent by-election. The local Green Party were impressed by his track record both in elections and as a parish councillor.

Sid Phelps, Chairman of Oxfordshire Green Party, said ” With Mark you see Green politics in action. His projects have helped invigorate the local economy, have improved recycling and environmental awareness in his parish, have encouraged local food production and he has championed a local vision on planning issues. We believe he would make a great MP for South Oxfordshire.”

Many Dorchester and Berinsfield residents would seem to agree with Mr Phelps. In last years District Council elections for the Berinsfield ward Mark came second to the Conservatives, well ahead of the Liberal Democrat and Labour candidates.

In the 2005 General Election Mark was the only candidate other than Boris Johnson to improve his Party’s share of the vote. His work on planning and environmental issues has earned the respect of his colleagues on Dorchester Parish Council.

Mark also instigated the Dorchester Carbon Project, run by a group of residents to reduce the community’s carbon footprint, and led the team that set up the successful new weekly Local Producers’ Market in Wallingford.

He said “I am greatly honoured to be selected to stand for the seat again. Most people know that lack of vision and understanding has inhibited other political parties from properly integrating our modern environmental understanding into all areas of policy, they fail to see that it is not just an environmental issue but social and economic too. By contrast our positive vision for a twenty first century politics based on thriving local communities makes the election of Green MPs increasingly likely. I already work to bring about that vision here in South Oxfordshire, now I want to take that vision to Westminster.”

Mark Stevenson,49, lives with his family in Dorchester on Thames and together they run an organic market garden. A former teacher, he was Head of Maths at an inner city school and has a research degree in philosophy from Oxford University. He joined the Green Party in1997 and first stood for parliament in 2001 in Witney against an unknown David Cameron.