Green Party House of Lords member Baroness Jenny Jones pays visit to Stowmarket's Food Museum as she canvasses area
Baroness Jenny Jones visited Stowmarket today, in a trip that revolved around green food as well as Green politics.
One of just two Green Party members in the House of Lords, Baroness Jones visited vegan food shop Bonitas before taking a stroll around the town’s Food Museum and canvassing in the area.
“Suffolk is a beautiful county but the Food Museum is something special,” she said. “Acres and acres of land used in such a novel, environmental way.”
The Food Museum owns 75 acres of countryside and is dedicated to growing visitors’ connection with the origins of food and showing the environmental impact of what people eat.
“This museum is huge now, but as a party we are very good at small-scale practical stuff which is then escalated up,” Baroness Jones said.
“Whether that’s traffic-calming, clean air zones or stopping people from running car engines outside schools, we’re good at small-scale measures which have a big impact on local people.
“The thing about environmental issues is there’s no silver bullet. You actually have to do everything.
“Of course, the crucial things the Green Party care about include cutting back on fossil fuels, allowing people to have cheaper energy through renewables, insulating homes and shortening food supply lines.
“Getting on with these things all at once might sound scary, but it’s what the Greens are doing all over the country.”
Baroness Jones met Adrian Ramsey during her visit, the Green Party co-leader who has been selected as their parliamentary candidate for North Suffolk.
She said: “I’m planning to come back to Suffolk to support Adrian and the local party, because Green politics is the future.
“All the other parties know that and they’re picking up our policies.
“On one level I’m thrilled with that, but I’m also very frustrated.
“This sudden talk of net zero. We may not have used the exact same language 50 years ago, but it’s basically what the Green Party were talking about back then.
“We wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today if our policies were picked up earlier.
“And we are in a mess. We’ve got ice sheets melting, sea levels rising and massive changes to weather patterns.
“There’s no going back from here, but we can stop it getting worse in the future – if we act fast.”
Baroness Jones was the only Green Party member in the House of Lords from her appointment in November 2013 until September 2019, when she was joined by Natalie Bennett.
She was also the Green Party candidate for Mayor of London in 2012 and came third.
The role Baroness Jones is most proud of playing in the House of Lords is 'frightening the Tories'.
“I cause trouble, but in a good way,” she said.
