Who cares about the environment? Here's what the candidates said.

On Thursday, April 29th, York and Ryedale Friends of the Earth asked the 4 leading parliamentary candidates standing for the Central York seat to describe their commitment to sustainability in a public hustings. Hugh Bayley, who has been our elected Labour MP since 1992, Christian Vassie, a Liberal Democrat city councillor since 1993, Andy Chase, local Green Party activist, and Susan Wade Weeks, who recently decided to run for the Conservative Party, came prepared to discuss four previously agreed topics, followed by questions from the public.

Jennie Dodson, York and Ryedale Friends of the Earth, acted as chair and opened the debate with our first question: Which environmental issue most concerns you and what would you do about this issue if elected?

Christian Vassie, dynamic as usual, had the first turn on this topic, and used it to declare his wish for a positive green message. Environmental policy needs to inspire the public, not scare it, he told us. He then gave priority to transforming the power-grid, which he described as outdated and wasteful.

"Imagine", he told us, "an intelligent power-grid." The computer controlling the grid would know the appliances in each of our homes, and would regulate our power-intake according to our priorities: a sudden surge in electric kettle usage during a big game intermission would be compensated for by a reduction of supply for other appliances.

Andy Chase followed on a thoughtful note, taking up the urgent need for reducing traffic in our city, as indeed in our nation. He used this issue to show how difficult it is for us to move towards a culture of enough, rather than economic growth. Individually, we all dislike traffic, but we find it difficult to give up driving our own cars. The Green Party supports the Green New Deal, wishes to regulate banks and establish a Robin Hood Tax, and favours Carbon Quotas.

Susan Wade-Weeks spoke with determination: She declared her commitment to protecting the British environment, telling us that she had been a Green voter for years, before deciding that David Cameron's party would put her ideals into practice. She believes that we can cut emissions with the help of incentives, prioritises protecting natural habitat and promotes sustainable farming. Finally, Susan told us look to Boris Johnson's measures in London for an example of Conservative sustainable practice.

Hugh Bayley stood to tell us about his record as an MP on environmental issues: He has signed up to the 10:10 campaign, has supported environmental legislation including the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill, the Climate Change Bill, the Marine and Coastal Access Bill. He underlined the need for international solidarity on sustainable practice, and reminded us that engaging the public in decision making through partnerships and public meetings is fundamental to his way of doing politics.

The further three topics provided were making the UK Transport system more sustainable, reducing the damaging impact of the food we buy, and new economic policies that would promote a more sustainable economy. There was a lot of common ground to the candidates' responses, as Andy Chase pointed out more than once: all favoured Green Investment Banking which would fund new Green Businesses, all talked of siphoning taxes into sustainability measures, all mentioned plans to improve public transport, and changing our eating habits towards less consumption of meat and dairy seems to be a generally accepted idea.

The interpretation of our margin for change did vary: The Green Party favours complete prioritisation of sustainable practice, both for reasons of social justice and of environmental protection. Thus road building would cease, as bigger roads consistently lead to expanding traffic. Aviation would also be restricted. Organic Farming would become standard and local food promoted, which would lead to increases in rural employment. Public Transport would be radically reformed - the Green Party favours public ownership of the railways- and grand scale economic change would be pushed forward on the international agenda. Andy Chase raised laughter when he warned us in a wry tone not to expect a Green Government to be elected May 6th. "But the more Green seats in Parliament, he told us, the better our chances of keeping the government honest!"

Christian Vassie, much like Nick Clegg, described his election as a sure move towards positive change. His is a can-do party and he's shown his commitment to sustainability in the educational books he's written for children as well as in his actions on York City Council: initiation of the Eco-Depot project as well as of environmental scrutiny topics and his influencing the council towards tackling climate change. An excellent public speaker, Christian made some telling points against the Labour government, reminding us of its many failures to take up sustainable policy over the past decade, and then concluding the debate with call for electoral reform, and the writing of a constitution as well as a bill of rights. "Be ambitious", he told us, "don't say that we can't do this stuff - that's how we've got into this mess!" His ideas for cities designed for sustainability met with interest, though they were dismissed by his Conservative opponent.

Susan Wade Weeks emphasised her commitment to environmental policies throughout the evening, and her projected policies on agricultural reform were appealingly down to earth: Enforce organic farming standards to increase the quality of our meat and dairy, as well as the welfare of our animals. The increased cost of meat would naturally lead to reduced meat-consumption, good for our country and our health. She reminded us of the traditional role of meat on our tables: a celebrated treat.

Our MP, Hugh Bayley, had the advantage of a public record in Parliament, and liberally referred to it when answering questions, but did not seem prepared to commit himself to many new policies. Changes take time, he told us, and restated his commitment to democratic procedure and ongoing cooperation with the electorate.

The evening was, all told, a lively and enlightening opportunity to hear these four candidates present their environmental visions. We have Guy Wallbanks, York and Ryedale Friends of the Earth, to thank for organising the event, and hope to see more such debates, even beyond the elections, as they encourage the public to engage in debate with their politicians, and to hold them accountable for their talk.