Meet the Greens: South Devon Green Party's Paula Black aims to be first Green MP in Exeter

By PRSD, on Tuesday, December 1, 2009

There’s an incredibly long interview with Paula Black, Devon County Councillor for Totnes and Green Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Exeter, in today’s Herald Express.

Some of it is quite good but there’s a lot of stuff about her accountant husband and inspirational grandmother. Bet they don’t ask the fellas about their grandparents. Oh, and the paper has managed to call her ‘Paul’ a couple of times too. Nice work!

Anyway, for those with precious little time on their hands, we’ve pulled together some of the more interesting snippets – a kind of ’Meet Your Greens’ if you will.

Paula left home at 17 to live in a squat, paid her way through her A Levels working as a barmaid, and then worked her way through university as an Isle of Wight ferry hostess.

Then – cue bright lights and celestial choirs – she moved to Totnes. After just one week she had joined the Green Party. A few months later she was Green candidate for Totnes’ county council seat, and a year later she became the first Green ever to be elected on to Devon County Council.

Now she has set her sights on becoming the first Green MP in the country. She’s been selected by her party to challenge Labour’s culture, media and sport minister Ben Bradshaw for his Exeter seat.

Paula has a Green hit list she is pushing to achieve, which includes a better public transport system, an alternative to incinerators and an answer to the inequality which sees local people left homeless while rich outsiders snap up homes at prices no one who lives here can afford.

She said: “The Green Party here was quite small 18 months ago when I arrived. Our membership in South Devon has gone up by 400 per cent in that time.

“I think people are fed up with parties which all sound the same. We offer them a choice.”

So there you go. Probably not enough to fill a HE double-page spread, but more than enough for us, thank you very much. You can read the full interview, should you so wish.