Ricky Knight

Find out how the European election works and why Ricky has a real chance of being elected as an MEP.

Ricky Knight is the Green Party's lead candidate for the South West region in the 2009 European Elections.

Ricky is a Modern Languages teacher at a Specialist Language College in Barnstaple, North Devon. He is a European Studies graduate, a keen if critical Europhile and dedicated eco-activist, having graduated into politics via CND, the Peace Movement and Greenpeace. He has been a Town Councillor for five years, stood for Westminster in 2005 and has been selected to run again next time. He has been a Green Party member for 25 years. His particular interests in the euro-sphere are energy, renewables, accountability and transparency, electoral reform and Climate Change.

He is particularly keen to engage the disenfranchised and the disillusioned, first-time voters and those who have never voted and maintain they never will. He feels strongly that the Green Party is the only party that can refute the perception that all parties are the same, cannot be trusted, are remote and unrepresentative and only interested in short-term electoral gain. He identifies strongly with the example set by Caroline Lucas, an inspirational figure who has defied all the odds of minority politics to achieve deserved respect within the EU and who now aspires to be our first MP; someone who is as prepared to take to the barricades as to the debating chamber.

Ricky is keen to ensure that the European Campaign remains part of a co-ordinated strategy to reach out to new, emerging and established local parties, to energise, motivate, encourage and support all existing and potential members, with a view to achieving full slates for District and County elections and a Green candidate for Westminster in every SW constituency. He also intends to help foster the emergence of county-based Green parties as a third tier in our regional organisation.

Ricky is particularly interested in the following policy areas:

• The European Union
• Renewable energy / nuclear
• Sustainable tourism & aviation
• Global warming - contraction and convergence
• Democratic deficit - electoral reform

In the media:
Single unitary authority?
Green bid to block barrage