A hard-working community champion and environmentalist with a wealth of knowledge on local issues has been selected by the Green Party as its MP candidate for Arundel & South Downs.

Full statement

Steve McAuliffe is an ex-British Army Air Corps soldier whose 20-year career in ecology and environmental management consultancy has spanned both industry and politics. He represents Arundel & Walberton on Arun District Council, is a board member of South Downs National Park, and recently completed his Masters, focusing on protected species legislation and anthropogenic impact mitigation.

McAuliffe has already shown that he is a viable option for many Conservatives. In the last 15 months he has won two elections in the affluent and ‘safe’ Tory ward of Arundel & Walberton – the second of which secured a further two Green seats and a clean sweep.

“I believe we have a chance of taking this constituency from the Conservatives for the first time in decades. Life-long Conservative voters have voted for Green candidates in unprecedented numbers at recent local elections,” says McAuliffe. “Our current systems and policies are failing to secure a sustainable and affordable future for the people of Arundel & South Downs, our wildlife and the wider world. A green technology and infrastructure transition is viable, economically prudent and in all our best interests and I believe Green politics is in tune with the values and views of the majority of Arundel and South Downs constituents.”

McAuliffe has a solid track record of delivering on campaign promises demonstrating hard work and an ability to get things done. A key campaign pledge last May was to prevent the development of an Air BnB ‘party house’ in River Road, Arundel. By September McAuliffe got the plan scrapped following significant work to discredit the financial basis of the project, the erroneous income predictions and unrealistically optimistic build costs.

Local party spokesperson Faye Mackenzie says: “I’m delighted Steve has been selected to represent communities across Arundel & South Downs in the much-anticipated election this year. Like the rest of the country, people in Arundel & South Downs are fed up of sewage, flooding, inappropriate development and the lack of investment in essential services like the NHS. Steve is the change candidate the people of Arundel & South Downs need as their representative in parliament.”