Man who made political history in Harrogate is to stand for Green Party in Wetherby at General Election

The Green Party is standing candidates in every seat across the country in this election - with the aim of quadrupling their number of MPs to four.

For their Wetherby campaign, they believe they have brought out one of their big guns by selecting a "heavyweight candidate” in the shape of Arnold Warneken.

Although Mr Warneken has lived and worked near Wetherby for 40 years, running an organic food distribution business, in 1990 he was famously elected to Harrogate Borough Council as a member of Harrogate and District Green Party.

He is currently North Yorkshire Councillor for Ouseburn, Chair of Tockwith Parish Council, and lives in Cowthorpe, all of which lie within the Wetherby & Easingwold constituency.

Mr Warneken said: “Wetherby and Easingwold is a completely new constituency, bridging two local authorities, so it will need a competent MP to satisfy the differing needs of the urban and rural communities.

"For the last two years I have acquired a reputation of getting things done where others give up.

"I have tackled residents’ problems and achieved many positive results.”

Arnold Warneken was selected to replace Anna Jacobs who was the previous candidate, but who has stood down as Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for personal reasons

Arnold is also involved in a local B-Corp company which recently won a King’s Award for Sustainability.

He has stood in Westminster elections three times before, once in Harrogate, and twice in Selby & Ainsty, where in July 2023 he came third out of 13 candidates.

Mr Warneken said he wanted to be a Green voice at Westminster to put an end to austerity and to "fix issues where government policies are to blame”.

He said: "The NHS, Special Needs education, our public transport system and our utility companies are on their knees after 14 years of underfunding, asset-stripping and privatisation.”

He added that Green policies would be funded by taxing the fossil fuel companies and other polluters.