This UEA grad is fighting to be your next MP

Lesley Grahame is the Green Party candidate for Norwich South, and studied International Development at UEA before becoming a nurse. 

“I used to go to student union meetings and the most memorable thing I remember was a motion that was passed to have the Sainsbury Centre turned upside down and made into a swimming pool.”

And like every student here, she loved the LCR.

“I’ve been to many a gig in the LCR. My favourite one was Barclay James Harvest.”

She was heavily involved in the libertarian socialist society but her first “political shock” came when she watched a film about nuclear war.

“I was really shocked to learn that half the world was hungry, and all of it was threatened by nuclear weapons.

“It was an enormous wake-up call. You’ve either got to ignore this and let it go on or do something about it.”

An obvious talking point was tuition fees. Lesley condemned parties that “treat education as a privilege and exclude some people”, saying tuition fees are “completely unnecessary” and that the Greens would seek to abolish them along with all existing student debt.

Norwich South is one of the most marginal seats in the country, with Green and Labour battling it out for victory on May 7th.

The party is holding an event in Lecture Theatre 1 on 5th May as part of their “#generationvotegreen” tour.

Lesley thanked UEA students for being part of the Green surge which has seen the Norwich Green Party grow to be the second biggest in the country, saying they now have “a real chance here in Norwich to elect a second Green MP”.

She added: “Green is the only party that is going to reverse the drive to privatisation and austerity. Every Green vote adds to the influence we have”.