In the run-up to the General Election on Thursday, we are giving all the candidates in the two Oxford constituencies the opportunity to tell you, the electorate, why you should vote for them.

David Williams, Green Party candidate for Oxford East

This is not the Brexit Election it is the Climate Crisis Election. If Johnson or Corbyn get their way and we leave the EU we can always campaign to re-join but acting decisively to stop Climate Change cannot be delayed. We must act NOW if we are to avoid a rapid descent into climate and social chaos.

All reputable climate scientists agree we have ten years to save the Planet from irreversible climate damage and human beings joining millions of other species in the 6th great extinction.

Only the Greens are proposing dramatic spending of £100bn per year to swiftly expand our renewable energy supply to be Carbon Neutral by 2030. After decades of campaigning the Greens know what needs to be done and how much it will really cost. Simply adopting a target, grossly underfunding the programme, excluding airport expansion, maritime emissions and land use is to deceive the public and a pretence of action.

Snail like progress until 2045 or 2050 when they discover very little has been done is too late. By voting Green a strong message will be sent that radical and dramatic action MUST be taken NOW !

The Greens want to stay in the European Union and are advocating a People Vote on any deal that is proposed with a clear Remain option. If that is made possible the Greens will not sit back and be neutral but will campaign as they have done before for us to stop in the EU and enjoy the freedom of movement, free trade, peace and prosperity that EU membership has brought. The impact of Brexit on Oxford will be severe – it must be stopped.

The Greens have always been a party of social justice and for a decade have been the most outspoken against Austerity cuts in public services. The 40% cut in government grant to local authorities has had a dramatic effect on services especially for the elderly. Benefits cuts have meant less is proportionally paid out now than when the welfare state was introduced in the 1940’s.

The cuts must be reversed for they were made our society less humane and more brutal.4 million of our children now grow up in poverty homes.

Greens are committed to spending more on the NHS than Labour and we are the ones who want to completely drive out all privatisation from the Health Service. We will not tolerate the sale of the NHS to American Private Health companies and want social care to be free.

There are those who want to make this into a Brexit election to cover up their disgraceful part in the governance of this country. Its time to say no to Brexit and yes to survival and building a better and more compassion society.

l David is known in East Oxford for tireless campaigning on the NHS, the environment and against Austerity. A former Green City and County Councillor he opposed the £56m worth of cuts in 2016 that Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrats pushed through the County Council.

Professionally David is the Chief Executive of Oxford UK Excellence a company that promotes innovation and leading edge thought to senior staff in a wide range of subjects, from all over the world. For over 30 years he was a senior lecturer in FE and HE and came to Oxford originally to head up the International Office at Oxford College.

For 20 years David was a Labour councillor but switched to Green when they started the privatisation of the NHS, commenced austerity cuts and joined the USA in aggressive and brutal wars in the Middle East that achieved nothing.

His stance now is clear – only the Greens offer a solution to the environmental crisis we all face and its the Greens who are willing to fully fund a renaissance in public services to rebuild our society.

He has opposed to the disastrous Oxford-Cambridge Expressway from the start.