The Times Series has asked each parliamentary candidate to explain why they should become an MP at the General Election on May 7.

Here Green candidate for Chipping Barnet, AM Poppy, explains why you should vote for her.

I’ve been campaigning with the Barnet Green Party for social justice and environmental justice since 2000. This time, the alternative the Greens offer you is more vital than ever.

I’ve been sickened by the way the poor are hammered while the richest get richer and pay less tax. Outsourcing our public services has eroded our democracy and hurt the most vulnerable. Selling off public assets – like our public libraries - strips our communal heritage forever.

Greens don’t do that.

Barnet Borough Council is proud of building itself into a place for the very rich, ‘decanting’ the poor to somewhere else. I’m not.

You might wonder why vote?

Politicians tend to sound the same, banging on about the deficit, immigration, and benefit capping. There is a reason for this sameness – all the other parties are beholden to their big business donors who get richer from austerity, from privatisation, and from eroding people’s benefits and communal solidarity.

We Greens don’t and won’t take money from any corporations. We care about people, and we know that the best way to achieve a recovery that is fair for everyone is to invest in solving our housing crisis equitably; strengthening the support systems for individuals and communities; and supporting the natural systems that sustain a healthy life.

It involves collecting all the unpaid tax (estimated at a whopping £120bn pa); scrapping Trident (£100bn over 30 years); imposing a financial transaction tax on the banks (£20bn pa); and rejecting TTIP*.

Here’s why vote: There’s only one sure way to tell Westminster that you want no more austerity, more and better jobs, a fairer society, and a sustainable future: Vote for the only democratic party that stands for people and the planet. In Chipping Barnet you have a safe choice: Don’t pass it up. Vote Green!

*Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership. We’re the only party opposing it root and branch.