Editorial

New Ground 66
Spring 2004

Last year SERA celebrated 30 years of campaigning for environmental change and social justice. One secret of our success has been our unique position as the only environmental pressure group affiliated to the Labour Party: the red wing of the green movement and the green wing of the red movement.

Many commentators predict a general election in June 2005 and SERA has an important role to play within the Labour movement, campaigning for radical environmental policies for the third term. The aviation white paper, which appears to signal a return to a predict-and-provide approach to transport, indicates that we need to redouble our efforts to steer the government back towards policies driven by sustainability and social justice.

The success in London of congestion charging and investment in buses shows what environmental policies that combine these values can achieve. This New Ground features more great ideas the Labour Party can champion in its next manifesto. We hope SERA members will want to contribute them to Labour’s Big Conversation. (See bigconversation.org.uk). SERA will launch its own manifesto campaign in the next few months.