Greens can bring hope and joy, Makerfield candidate says

The Green Party can find "better solutions for the people of Makerfield", its candidate for the by-election in the constituency has said.

Sarah Wakefield told BBC Radio Manchester she was "running because we are at a time in politics when there's a lot of anger and a lot of frustration".

"What we need is hope and joy and better solutions for the people of Makerfield and for the country," she added.

Wakefield was speaking as part of a series of interviews with candidates from the major parties standing in the poll, which will take place on 18 June.

Wakefield, who was chosen after the Greens' first candidate Chris Kennedy withdrew from the race, said people felt "frustrated, unheard and frankly annoyed" by national issues.

"Locally, there's a lot going on as well," she said.

"Issues of flooding in Abram and Platt Bridge, there's green belt which is being built on and there's community assets which are crumbling and people are very upset and rightly so.

"The people of the constituency of Makerfield deserve to have their community assets looked after properly and a lot of the time the national conversation is not thinking about what's going on for people on the ground."

Asked about immigration, Wakefield said her party's policy was that anyone who could contribute was welcome.

"What we hear on the ground is people asking parties that say once they control immigration things will be better - what are you going to do after that?" she added.

"So much of what makes our country great is our diversity."

Asked about whether the party had abandoned its original focus on environmental issues, she said those values remained "at the heart of everything we do".

"We put planet and our communities as our foundation," she said.

"You cannot have justice for the planet and nature without putting it hand in hand with social justice.

"We have a vast range of policies across every area, ready to fix this country."

She was also asked about her party's proposals to end Class A drug prohibition and replace it with a system of legal regulation.

"The legalisation of drugs is all about taking a public health first approach and that means looking at what the best things are to help people who are addicted," she said.

"Having a regulated system, done with professionals, means that people can get the right help that they need."

The by-election was called after the area's MP Josh Simons stood down.

A full list of the candidates for the by-election can be found here.

Listen to the best of