Earlier in June Rye News asked the candidates from the main five parties to tell us their priorities for Rye. Here’s what Becca Horn, the Green candidate in Hastings and Rye, sent us.
Becca Horn is a smart and passionate local campaigner and Hastings Borough councillor, already working hard on the issues that matter in Hastings and Rye.
Housing is a top priority for Becca. She volunteers with Hastings Housing Alliance, pushing for community-led solutions to our housing crisis. Becca says: “Whilst we need visitor accommodation in our historic town of Rye, homes for local residents must come first. The Green Party will control second homes and holiday lets by ending no-fault evictions and empowering local authorities to cap rents where needed.”
Greens will provide 150,000 social homes per year through new-build and refurbishment, introducing community right to-buy and removing individual right-to-buy to keep social homes in community perpetuity. Existing homes will be retro-fitted to reduce energy bills and carbon emissions and create jobs. Renters will have greater security.
Becca recognises that a large number of people in Rye are being failed by our deliberately underfunded NHS. “The Greens will end creeping privatisation,” Becca says. “We have pledged £28bn by 2030 and a further £20bn for social care – far more than any other party.”
As a community yoga teacher, Becca sees health and wellbeing as paramount to a fairer society. “We saw during Covid how vital access to nature is for our health. Greens will ensure everyone has access to nature through our Right to Roam Act.”
Rye’s Foodbank has seen unprecedented demand as people struggle to make ends meet and local authorities have been pared to the bone by Conservative austerity. This ‘cost-of-living’ crisis, Becca asserts, is in fact an inequality crisis. “The rich are growing wealthier each year,” Becca says. “Greens are the only party prepared to tax the super-wealthy just a modest amount to fund our public services and ensure a just Green Economic Transition.”
As a founder member of Hastings and St Leonards Clean Water Action, Becca is known for speaking out against Southern Water to end sewage pollution. Becca says: “Privatisation has only ever benefitted the few. We must bring our water back into public hands, where it belongs.
“With climate change bringing ever greater flood risks to Hastings and Rye, and energy bills skyrocketing, it has never been more important to end fossil fuel dependency. Greens will push for zero carbon faster, invest in renewables and ensure communities own their energy sources. Let’s give power to the people.”
Read the Green Party’s full manifesto here
Image Credits: Becca Horn .