Today, Islington Green Party declared that Cllr Caroline Russell and campaigner Charlie Kiss have been selected to stand as Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) in the Islington North and Islington South and Finsbury constituencies respectively.
The Green Party is the second party in Islington having achieved record results across both constituencies in recent elections. In May, The Greens achieved 19% of the vote across the borough in the local council elections and 16% in the European elections. The Green Party also holds the sole opposition seat on Islington Council. Having achieved second place in every ward in the 2012 Mayoral Election across Islington North, The Green Party has been steadily growing to become the borough’s second party.
Caroline Russell – Islington North
Cllr Caroline Russell is the Green Party councillor for Highbury East within the Islington North constituency.
Caroline has lived in Islington since 1986, initially in Kings Cross and since 1992 in Highbury. She is 52 and married with three children. She has a Fine Art MA from Goldsmiths and a B.Eng in Civil Engineering from City University. Over the years she has worked as a bicycle dispatch rider, community arts leader, university lecturer and, after a period of full time motherhood combined with community activism, as a transport campaigner.
As a walking and cycling campaigner, Caroline specialises in advocacy on behalf of pedestrians and for more people-friendly streets. She is the Green Party’s national spokesperson on Local Transport and speaks out for reducing both road danger and air pollution. She is passionate about addressing health inequality by promoting population-wide levels of physical activity through daily journeys on foot and by bike.
She has been involved in multiple local campaigns for many years. In particular as a parent governor at Canonbury Primary School and Chair of Islington Living Streets.
Caroline Russell said, “Having watched the energetic debates about politics and democracy and the massive voter turn out in Scotland recently, I hope that the general election campaign will result in similar levels of debate and engagement across our borough. The last years have been a disaster for both environmental and social justice. We are facing a climate catastrophe and we know the next eight to ten years are crucial to get ourselves off the collision course with climate chaos.
Our public services are increasingly threatened. Labour set in train the logic of the current government, in the form of deregulation, NHS foundation trusts and academies, that is leading to escalating privatisation of public services. I want to give voters a real alternative.”
Charlie Kiss – Islington South and Finsbury
Charlie Kiss is the Islington Green Party Campaign Coordinator having lived in London for 38 years. He works for Camden Council in their repairs costing department as an Order Compliance Officer. Charlie is an active local member of the Green Party and was involved from the start in campaigns against tax avoidance, campaigned for affordable housing and has led Tenants’ Associations.
Charlie Kiss, 49, lives in Holloway and went to a comprehensive school, obtained a grant to study at the London College of Printing and then worked in the printing industry. He later gained a Business Studies degree (BA Hons) and post graduate degrees in Economics and International Politics (MA) all by evening class.
He is a Unison activist and shop steward. He has experienced unemployment and homelessness and is passionate about the housing crisis and the need to reverse Britain’s extreme inequality. He is a strong believer in LGBT equality and justice and is trans himself. He is also a volunteer for the scrutiny panel of a Housing Association.
Charlie Kiss said; “Islington South and Finsbury faces several serious issues including growing severe inequality and poverty across the constituency. I will be campaigning for a wealth tax on those with assets over £3million and for a maximum ratio of ten-to-one between the highest and lowest earners within an organisation. Greens also want to reverse the privatisation of public services, especially within the NHS, and we also want to return the railways into public ownership and control. Locally, I will be looking to make our roads safer, especially along Clerkenwell Road, and protecting Islington’s buildings for local business and community use. I want to stop further development of unaffordable luxury property and instead create more council housing across the constituency.”