Zoë Garbett is in a hurry. Not only is she running as the Green Party candidate for Mayor of Hackney, but she is also aiming to be elected as a councillor for Dalston.
And whilst running the two separate campaigns, Garbett is still working part time for the NHS.
“I actually don’t think of what I do as work. I just like to do things within a community and helping people.”
Having grown up in Somerset, Garbett says she has always been around family and friends with liberal and progressive views. “That’s where I formed my views on things like the climate emergency,” she adds.
“When I moved to London, I came across diverse viewpoints but I think that helped further cement my opinion on how the country should be run and in particular how we can reverse the climate emergency.”
Despite being an out-of-towner, Garbett has thrown herself into her community in Dalston and is the chair of the Tenants’ and Residents’ Association for her own Rhodes Estate.
Child Q
Garbett is so busy that directly after our interview, she is rushing off to a demonstration at Hackney Town Hall in support of Child Q, who was strip-searched by police, despite the fact she was menstruating, after wrongly being suspected of carrying cannabis.
“There are real, real problems with racism and institutionalised issues in our police,” says Garbett. “Look at the higher proportion of stop and search rates for black and brown people. It was revealed [by the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership] that 25 children were strip searched and that nothing was found in 88% of cases.
“In our joint statement with the Drug Policy Working Group and Greens of Colour, we are calling for the resignation of the police officers involved and the Borough Command Chief. We also want clarity from the Mayor on how the council will work to hold the police to account. We need serious reform and a review of local police, but the council continues to support the police, even in light of Child Q.
“For a while now, we have been working with groups like Coffee Afrique to understand how we can reform those institutions that are clearly not serving the non-white population of Hackney.”
Having previously worked as a key contributor to Sian Berry’s manifesto for the London Mayoral election in 2021, Garbett says that voters “no longer see Green Party campaigners as just wanting to talk about recycling”.
“We are the party of anti-war, anti-racism, anti-capitalism. We are offering the surest alternative to the Tories, the Lib Dems, and Labour.”
Green Party Principles
Of course, Garbett is still a green campaigner at heart: “We want to implement a ‘triple bottom line’ into all Council decisions. Before, the main thought has always been financial and social. We want to consider how this will affect the climate.
“For example, if we are talking about building 500 new homes in Dalston – where I live – not only will we take into account the financial cost and society benefits, but we want to give equal weight to the environmental impact of our decisions.
“There are numerous holes in the council’s current climate work. A lot of the emphasis is on how individuals can contribute. I think if the council is going to tackle this properly there needs to be change on a higher level than the actions of individuals.”
Another key element of Garbett’s proposed policy will be to introduce a dedicated Cabinet Member for Climate and Clean Air: “Having someone with that title will show the importance we place on the climate emergency. We have worked closely with organisations like Mums For Lungs and they are clear that Hackney needs a stronger, more urgent plan for decarbonisation of the area.
“Having someone who is dedicated to ensuring that that ‘third bottom line’ has equal importance and can provide that scrutiny that Hackney Council needs, will greatly improve all activities in Hackney and put them into an environmental context. That is how we achieve net-zero: by factoring it into all of our decisions.”
The Green Party is a growing force in Hackney. It was the second biggest party by vote share in the 2018 council elections, but is yet to secure a council seat. Garbett hopes to change this. Dalston was the tightest call between Labour and Green, with only 21 votes separating them out of more than 4,000.
Unprompted, Garbett offers her own strategy for office: “Our vision of leadership of the Hackney Council would be to place more trust in experts. The Green Party has always placed trust in experts. If leaders are not able to listen and take on board the opinions of the people they work for, then they are not serving their people well enough. We would do this as the Green Party.”
Away from Politics
Garbett speaks with enthusiasm and integrity but her passion reaches its crescendo when talking about her hobbies.
“I love to go out dancing! It was a real shame to see [South London nightclub] Printworks be redeveloped and that is something that I will ensure will not happen in Hackney. Preservation of Hackney’s nightlife and economy is something I personally care about a lot.”
Without doubt, Hackney’s Green Party would dance the night away if they were to win further council representation, let alone the mayoral election. But if you ask Garbett, if ever there was a time for the Greens, then it is now.
“I believe that now is the time for the Green Party to move from opposition to shaping the policy of Hackney.”
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