ON behalf of the Green Party of St Helens, I would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn on his election as leader of the Labour party.

In the words of our party leader, Natalie Bennett: "The selection of Corbyn, combined with the remarkable Green surge of the past year, and the SNP's successes in the Westminster election, shows just how many people support an alternative to austerity economics, a head-in-the-sand approach to our environmental crisis and our tired, business-as-usual politics.”

Now the real work begins.

Unless you happen to be a billionaire or the CEO of a multinational corporation, Tory policies are a disaster.

Austerity is – by design – a scheme that works only for the benefit of the wealthy few and the poverty and inequality it breeds are growing day-by-day. Trident is an unusable and unaffordable sham that protects nothing but the profits of the arms makers. Adequate housing is becoming out of reach for more and more families. Climate change represents perhaps the greatest threat to humanity in the history of the world, but Cameron and company treat it as little more than a minor distraction.

Like the Green Party, Corbyn understands just how destructive these policies are for the overwhelming majority of the British people. Ideas such as his are exactly what the UK now needs.

We call on our two St Helens MPs, Marie Rimmer and Conor McGinn, to declare their full and unequivocal support for Mr Corbyn, and to devote themselves 100per cent to seeing his policies implemented.

We will be watching.

Dave Parr

Work and Welfare Spokesman

St Helens Green Party