Sian Berry wants to bring hope to Brighton Pavilion

Sian Berry said it was a “unique thing” Brighton Pavilion residents did in first electing a Green MP in 2010 and promised she will continue her predecessor Caroline Lucas’s work to be the city’s “independent voice” if elected.

The 49-year-old, who moved to Brighton after her selection last summer, said the decision had “put Brighton on the map”.

Sian Berry with Steve Coogan and Green Party canvassers (Image: The Argus/Andrew Gardner)

She said she wants to be an MP who listens to her constituents and champions the work of others, particularly groups and organisations involved in youth work, environmental and food waste projects and upcycling.

“My favourite thing in the world is to be able to find a community organisation that’s doing great work and help elevate its voice because they are the people who are picking up where policies need to change,” she said.

“They’re the people who know the impact on the ground of bad policies like austerity or changes to welfare.

“This is my home and I hope it will be for ever.”

Ms Berry wants to see water renationalised, for more council homes to be built and bought by local authorities and for greater greener investment.

“Building new homes, particularly council homes, is absolutely vital," she said.

“We have to make sure that new sites that come up for development are not simply unaffordable flats for investors, landlords and Airbnbs.

“They have to be real council homes.

“The Green party has said in its manifesto we are going to create a fund for buying homes as well as removing the right to buy.

“The housing market in Brighton has changed. The moving of the housing stock that exists from being council homes into being what are now landlord-owned private rented homes.

“Previous administrations did start off doing some purchases using their own money but this really needs proper investment from government.

“The other thing is sewage. Whether you’re trying to swim in the sea or walk down the street in Patcham there’s sewage coming at you in all directions.

“When I went to Patcham a few weeks ago there was poo on the pavement and that is to do with the badly invested in and badly maintained infrastructure.”

Sian Berry, the Green candidate for Brighton Pavilion (Image: The Argus/Andrew Gardner)

Read more: Greens say a win in Brighton would be a win for the country

Ms Berry criticised Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak and said the party leaders have not prioritised climate policy.

“Neither of them have got anything like the level of investment needed,” she said.

“This is across not just energy, which Labour has focused all of their much smaller now investment in, but across homes, dealing with flood risks.

“All of that is green work too.

“There’s an enormous amount of really excellent green jobs that need to be created.

“I’ve got two bills ready to go, I’ve got the green new deal bill and the climate and nature bill which is all about having proper investment and strategies in place to undo the damage climate change is already doing and stop its worst impacts, while investing in the country and its people.”

Who is Sian Berry?

The former Green Party leader joined the party in 2001 and was a councillor for Highgate ward in Camden since 2014 until her resignation in October last year.

She was also a member of the London Assembly until her resignation in May following her re-election.

Ms Berry received some criticism for how she left the assembly but said it “did not cost the public purse a single penny” and that she left on the day of the result, not three days later as was reported.

“Our team was three and the three people necessarily shouldn’t have included me because I was always going to be leaving that job when the election was called,” she said.

Ms Berry ran to be London Mayor three times, most recently in 2021 where she placed third.

Her first attempt to enter Parliament was in 2005, when she contested the Hampstead and Highgate constituency.

Before joining the London Assembly, Ms Berry was the founder of the campaign group Alliance Against Urban 4x4s and worked as a roads and sustainability transport campaigner for the charity Campaign For Better Transport for five years.

She resigned as Green Party co-leader in 2021, citing internal party conflict over transgender rights.

Ms Berry said she has “had a ball” campaigning and is not taking voters for granted.

Her campaign received a major boost when actor Steve Coogan endorsed her bid to become MP.

Sian Berry with Steve Coogan (Image: The Argus/Andrew Gardner)

“I’ve been trying to speak to as many people as I possibly can,” she said.

“We know every vote here has to be won afresh at every single election.

“Caroline never took Brighton for granted and I never ever would either.

“Part of our job is to bring hope into this election.

“Our manifesto is full of great ideas and it’s been lots of fun putting that in front of people.

“There is so much that could be done to create the opportunity for the investment the country is crying out for.

“Labour’s offer has been so dismal and depressing the way that they’re campaigning.

“They’re not trying to inspire the country.

“They’re trying to make the country vote for them just because they’re not the Conservatives.

“For it to be simply a sea of red with no alternative voice that you can go to as a resident, I don’t think that’s what Brighton wants.”

And if she is made MP, what does she want her impact to have been on the constituency looking back at the next general election?

“I would love there to be a real boost in green investment and projects I can visit where the young people I’ve spoken to have got jobs and are enjoying the fact that they’re building the future,” she said.

“That would be amazing.

“And I would love there to be capital investment in buying back homes for council homes and there was a list of homes I could visit that have come on to the market that the council’s been able to buy because of the funding I got Rachel Reeves to release.”