I expect to end up out of pocket from standing in Skipton and Ripon. I am doing so because I think local people need the chance to send a message that they have had enough of suffering austerity whilst bankers enjoy £370 billion of free money from quantitative easing, have had enough of badly thought out wars that leave us more vulnerable, and have had enough of politicians chasing short term popularity whilst the long term costs of environmental damage mount up.
In the extraordinarily unlikely event that I actually win in Skipton and Ripon I can assure people that £67,000 a year is plenty enough and I will not be taking second jobs or dubious payments to help influence Parliament. My party can also cope very well without taking money from large corporations. Last year the Greens received £248,520 in donations which averages out at £5 per head from the existing membership of over 50,000.
As a consequence we don't owe anything to anyone and can say exactly what we like without fear of annoying our sponsors. If this means that we occasionally lack a bit of professional polish then so be it. I would rather we were honest. Isn't that what we want from our representatives?