I am writing this on the day of the anti-austerity march in Madrid, in the week that the anti-austerity party Syriza won the Greek election.

Should we believe the Conservatives that austerity is necessary? They have planned £50 billion worth of cuts in the next parliament. Labour are also promising cuts. These are further cuts to our services, and they affect us all.

Living standards have been cut for the majority, and slashed for the poorest. In one of the world’s richest countries, a million people used food banks last year, so Tesco in Epping, along with other supermarkets, has a collection box for our local food bank.

We are told that we need to reduce the country’s deficit, because we spent over £100 billion bailing out the banks. The austerity policy has failed, and the deficit has not been paid off, because so many people are on low incomes and in part-time work, therefore not paying tax. Meanwhile, multinational companies like Google, Amazon and Starbucks are not paying their fair share.

The Green Party would make tax fairer and more lucrative, closing loopholes so that rich individuals and big corporations pay more, and small businesses pay less. Then we would not need this harsh austerity.

Anna Widdup, parliamentary candidate, Epping Forest Green Party