An artist and grandmother, who only got into politics a few years ago, has been selected as the Green Party’s parliamentary candidate for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket.
Emma Buckmaster will contest the newly-created seat at the next general election.
After reading economics at university, Mrs Buckmaster trained as an analyst in London, before marrying her farmer husband and moving to Suffolk more than 40 years ago.
It was through her artwork, which focuses on nature and has been displayed around the world, that Mrs Buckmaster became involved in the Green Party, with her growing concern about environmental issues facing the planet.
She said: "People aren’t taking environmental issues seriously enough.
“I understand that it’s a difficult thing for people to grasp or even think about because it’s frightening, scientific, and complicated. And I don’t claim to understand all of it, but from what I do understand and what I see around me, I know we have to do something. It’s really for the next generation.”
Mrs Buckmaster vowed to work with farmers to enable positive environmental action.
She said: “It is possible to bring change but you can only do that if you support farmers through it. You can’t expect them to work for nothing and you can’t expect people to pay too much for their food. And it’s not necessarily an easy political path and I’m afraid other parties are just ignoring the reality.”
The grandmother’s selection comes after the Greens took control of the Mid Suffolk district in last year's local elections.
She said: “I really think people have lost faith in politicians.
“I hope that as someone who comes into politics without a career agenda, I can encourage people to vote. That’s the only way we can enact change. We are lucky in this country because we still have a democratic system and we still have the power to change things.
"I think politicians have got to be more transparent, more genuine. In fact, we need less party politics. I don’t like seeing it in the councils, when a party has a huge majority and doesn’t listen to the opposition.
"Again, this is part of the Green Party ethos – we must work together with other people and I think that’s really important."
Mrs Buckmaster will likely face Conservative Jo Churchill, who currently holds the Bury St Edmunds seat, at the next general election.
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