General Election 2024 / Alex Armitage
Green
As Shetland’s representative in Westminster, I will stand up for the needs of our community above all else.
I’m 42 years old, I live in Bigton with my wife and son, I work part-time as an NHS consultant paediatrician and I’m Shetland’s first elected Green councillor.
I decided to become politically active because I see the future and I see the need to change. I want to help find solutions to the critical problems that face us and our children, as we look ahead to the rest of the 21stcentury.
Our future demands decisive action on the climate emergency and on social justice; but instead we have an economy that enriches billionaires at the expense of ordinary people. We can’t keep staggering on with the same political system.
I believe in more autonomy for Shetland. Our community is unique, and our needs are different. Decisions which affect Shetland should be made as much as possible by Shetlanders. This idea has been tried out in Faroe, with great success. As your MP, I work to bring more powers over energy, transport, education, planning, fisheries, agriculture and finances to Shetland.
If elected, I’ll work to secure a new Northern Isles Act, to give Shetland and Orkney control over the development of the renewable energy industry. Our island communities are at the mercy of large energy corporations that want to extract our renewable resources for profit.
In 1974, the then MP for Orkney and Shetland, Jo Grimond, secured the ZCC Act which enabled us to benefit from the development of oil and gas. Today we need new legislation to ensure that we can prevent overdevelopment and secure a fair share of the value of Shetland’s renewable energy resources. We must learn the lessons of Viking Energy.
Much has changed since the last UK general election in 2019; we’ve had the Covid pandemic and the brutal cost of living crisis which has left thousands of Shetlanders in poverty. Our country’s finances are in a mess.
During the pandemic, billionaire wealth increased by £150bn. For context, that’s more money than the entire UK education budget. We’re not speaking about a couple of people flying around in private jets; this is serious money which could make the difference between a society that meets everybody’s needs and what we have now – a country on its knees.
We must stop pumping money into the pockets of billionaires, and institute a wealth tax to redistribute our country’s wealth to where it’s needed – investment in public services, the NHS and in lifting folk out of poverty.
As we face the future, we need new people and new ideas in politics. A wealth tax on billionaires, a universal basic income, a four day week, massive funding in the Green industrial revolution, more autonomy for Shetland, securing tunnels to our isles and supporting our indigenous, low carbon fishing industry.
The future is fair, the future is local, the future is change, the future is Green.
Vote Green on the 4th July!
Contact
Phone: 07708554375
Email: alexjarmitage@gmail.com
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