James grew up in the East Midlands and his interest in environmental and political issues began early – he joined the Green Party at the age of sixteen.

Full statement

He moved to Hull in 1997 to study for the well-regarded British Politics and Legislative Studies degree at Hull University, including a year spent working at the House of Commons. Like so many Hull Uni students, he loved the city so much that he never left! He has lived in the Hull North constituency since graduating in 2001 and has lived on Ella Street with his partner since 2006.

Since 2018 James has worked as an Environment Officer at the Environment Agency. Prior to that most of his career was spent in community development work with roles at Community First Yorkshire near York, and as a Community Warden and Neighbourhood Manager at the Goodwin Development Trust in Hull.

James holds a Level 3 Diploma in Countryside Management and spent a year volunteering for The Conservation Volunteers and the National Trust while studying for this. He and his partner also volunteer as hostel managers for the Youth Hostel Association and for a while James was the Chair of Directors at the Yorkshire Wolds Railway. In 2014 he helped establish Hull Independent Cinema of which is the Chair of Trustees, in which role he helped deliver the organisation’s contribution to Hull’s successful 2017 UK City of Culture programme. He is also a Trustee of the recently established Unthinkable Short Film Festival.

In Parliament, James would seek to work with what will hopefully be a significant Green Group of MPs to hold a probable Labour government to account, in particular on its promises on making UK energy supply net zero carbon by 2030 and tackling sewage pollution in our rivers and seas. Labour has recently gone back on some of its previous policy in this area, such as the now scrapped promise to invest £28bn on its Green Prosperity Plan, and we must be vigilant in ensuring there is no further backsliding once they are in office. The climate crisis is the greatest emergency we face and James would focus on seeking to amend government legislation wherever possible so that the UK Government tackles it with the urgency it demands.

James will also use his voice in Parliament to call for a change to the current Government’s policy of continuing to license new oil and gas exploration and extraction. Existing fossil fuel supplies should only be used to enable the transition to a genuinely net zero society; oil and gas not already licensed must be left in the ground.

Locally, James is keen to secure investment in electrifying the railway line into Hull, regardless of whether or not the proposed Hull and East Yorkshire devolution deal goes ahead. Vital investment in making Hull’s rail link greener and more reliable should not be offered only as a bribe to accept a devolution offer which in its current form does not meet the needs of the local area and which may in fact remove power further from citizens than the current arrangements.