The Press has offered prospective parliamentary candidates the chance to have their say ahead of the General Election. Here Tom Franklin,York Central Green candidate, sets his stall out

IN the four years, I have lived in York, I have seen the effects of austerity on schools and communities leading to the rise in homelessness, especially because of cuts to local government and the freezing of benefits while rents rise.

I also see the vulnerability of York to more frequent extreme floods because of climate change.

I have a strong campaigning record and can help to ensure that York gets services it needs including improved local rail and bus services, better funding for education in York Central and real action on climate change.

The Green Party and I are absolutely clear that the greatest issue we face is the climate emergency, and only by getting a strong green vote, whether or not we get many MPs, can we ensure that real action is taken to prevent York suffering the fate of areas like Fishlake village in recent weeks.

Action to cut burning of fossil fuels will help reduce the risk of climate change and mitigate the effects of it, it will also create jobs through a Green New Deal.

Amongst other things, this will improve the quality of housing reduce the need for heating, help strengthen local communities by ensuring services are delivered locally reducing the unnecessary travel and improve air quality by reducing traffic.

It will also provide better bus services and provision for cyclists and pedestrians which will reduce congestion on the roads. Waste is a huge problem and York has low rates for recycling.

We need to reduce waste at source by banning the use of non-recyclable plastics for packaging, and ensuring that it is easier to recycle. This will take work at both the national and local level.

Perhaps the next most urgent issue is Brexit.

I support remaining in the EU.

A majority of people of York voted Remain in the referendum, and York is one of the places with the most to lose from leaving the EU. However, I also believe that we should have a “People’s Vote” to choose between leaving and remaining.

The original referendum didn’t make clear what leaving might look like, and was severely affected by fraud.

We need a People’s Vote to know what people really want now.

The issue is too important for a three-year-old referendum to decide it.

The health service is grossly overstretched through ten years of cuts and focuses too much on curing once the illness has occurred rather than prevention.

We need to increase funding, especially in mental health which has seen massive cuts in York including the closure of Bootham Park and several outpatient facilities.

We need greater efforts in health promotion, and we need more staff providing care, including staff from overseas, from the EU and beyond.

Having worked in education I know that the current system with its focus on exams and measuring is preventing children from learning anything beyond what is needed for tests, and is leading to appalling levels of child mental illness.

Education needs to focus on learning instead of tests and to be for everything we do, not just work.

We have shown we are willing to work with other parties to achieve the best possible outcomes by our work on the City of York Council and in Parliament.

We do not believe that any single party has all the answers, and a mixture of MPs is better for the country.

By voting Green you could double the representation of the party in Westminster.

A vote for me is a vote for a greener, better York with happier healthier people. Vote Green. Vote Tom Franklin.