Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance has said publically he will be voting for the Green Party in Lambeth in the local council elections on May 3rd.
Pointing to the need for a stronger opposition to balance the current huge majority of the Labour Party in Lambeth, he said he would be giving all three of his votes to Green Party candidates Nick Christian, Matt Reynolds and Becca Thackray in his local ward, Herne Hill, where local polling shows the Greens running neck and neck with Labour. [1]
A strong defender of public libraries and open spaces, in his statement Rylance endorses the three Green Party candidates as champions of local campaigns to reinstate a full service at Carnegie Library [2] and to protect Brockwell Park from commercial exploitation. [3]
Rylance said:
“Labour’s majority is strong in Lambeth but every democracy needs an opposition. Let’s have a progressive Green one. As councillors, my impression is that, Nick, Matt & Becca will look after our libraries & our parks, keep Labour open & help them live up to their responsibilities to ensure we live in a borough that works for everyone and moves to a sustainable future.
“The Green party is the only party committed at its core to our vitally important relationship with nature and the long term issues we are going to leave to our children. I shall be giving them my three votes.”
Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley, who is standing for election in St Leonard’s ward in Lambeth, said:
“It is great to have local resident and Oscar winner Mark Rylance supporting our council candidates. In wards such as Herne Hill, the Green Party is the only party with a realistic chance of beating the incumbent Labour councillors, who have lost the support of local people through their failure to respond to people’s concerns about libraries, parks and estate demolitions.
“In councils like Lambeth, which are heavily dominated by one party, there is a democratic deficit – and lack of scrutiny and challenge which has led to a cosy complacency from councillors and bad decisions by the council.
“The Green Party already has one councillor in Lambeth and after May 3rd if residents in Herne Hill elect Greens there will be a bigger group of capable and hard-working Green Party councillors to shine a spotlight on the council and hold it to account.”
Mark Rylance, who won an Oscar and BAFTA for his role in the film Bridge of Spies, and is known for his roles in Wolf Hall and Dunkirk, as well as being the first artistic director of the Globe Theatre [4], is a well-known face around Herne Hill and frequently walks his dog in Brockwell Park.
Two years ago, he spoke out against the closure of his local Carnegie Library by Lambeth Council and its decision to gift the building to a leisure company to use as a gym.
The Green Party is standing 61 candidates across all 21 wards in Lambeth. In 2014 it won the second largest share of the vote behind Labour. Labour won 59 council of 63 seats. [5]
NOTES
[1] Green Party canvassing returns to 16/4/18
[2] Rylance backs Save Our Libraries 2016: https://lambeth.greenparty.org.uk/news/2016/02/11/mark-rylance-comes-out-against-lambeth-library-closures/
[3] Campaign to protect Brockwell Park from large commercial festivals: http://www.brockwellstreets.org/
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rylance#Awards_and_nominations
[5] Lambeth Council election results 2014: https://moderngov.lambeth.gov.uk/mgElectionResults.aspx?ID=25&RPID=0
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