Who is Jonathan Bartley? Green Party co-leader with Caroline Lucas for the 2017 General Election – all you need to know
GREEN party co-leader Jonathan Bartley has said he is "ready to make history" at the General Election in June.
Mr Bartley is hoping to increase the number of Green MPs in the House of Commons in the upcoming vote – Caroline Lucas, who co-leads with him, is the only one in the party's history.
Who is Jonathan Bartley?
According to the Green Party website, Mr Bartley is a "descendant of Irish farmers on one side and Quaker prison reformer Elizabeth Fry on the other".
He studied Social Policy at London School of Economics and worked in Parliament on a cross-party basis from 1994-1998.
The dad-of-three joined the Green Party in 2010, and ran unsuccessfully for the London Assembly in 2012.
He stood as a parliamentary candidate in 2015 for the London constituency of Streatham, winning 8.9 per cent of the vote in a seat controlled by Labour's Chuka Umunna.
Mr Bartley joined Caroline Lucas as co-leader of the Greens in September 2016.
Unusually for a party leader, he has chosen not to stand as an MP in the upcoming general election.
Away from politics, he is the drummer in The Mustangs, a British blues rock band who have released nine albums.
What has the Green Party pledged for the 2017 General Election?
Ahead of General Election 2017, the Green Party has pledged to:
- Scrap tuition fees and bringing back maintenance grants
- Offer voters the chance of a second referendum with the option to remain in the EU
- Continue the Erasmus student exchange programme after Brexit
- Pledge to maintain equivalent funding for universities losing cash from the EU
- Ensure the HIV prevention drug PrEP is provided by the NHS
The party also want the voting age in the UK lowered to 16.
Writing for , Mr Bartley has said: "The Green Party will be standing for an economy that works for everyone, not just the privileged few; a Britain that's open to the world and for the protection of our precious environment.
“We will not let the far-right fill the vacuum left by the gaping inequality between rich and poor in this country.”
He added: “Over the coming weeks, the Green Party will be setting out a bold, positive vision for the future of Britain.
“We're already standing a record 1,561 candidates in the local elections on 4 May – hundreds more than Ukip.
“We're ready to make history on 8 June and have already announced excellent Green Party candidates, with many more to come. "
How did the Green Party do in the local elections?
The Green Party picked up 40 seats, gaining six in total.
The party won its first councillor on the Isle of Wight and in Wales last week.
It also gained two councillors on Somerset County Council and one in Dorset.
The party held its two seats in Warwickshire.
