Dulwich and West Norwood’s Brexit Party candidate is a high-profile former Green Party spokesperson who says remaining in the EU is bad for our environment’s future.
Julia Stephenson, an animal rights activist and founder of the Julia Stephenson Trust For Animals, previously stood as a Green candidate in Fulham and Chelsea in two general elections and three local elections. She even acted as Animal Welfare Spokesperson from 2002 to 2008 but has now joined the Brexit Party to take on Helen Hayes.
An environmental columnist for the Independent for four years with the weekly Green Goddess column, Stephenson is also a patron of Greek Animal Rescue.
Her memoir, Letting Go of the Glitz: One Woman’s Struggle to Live the Simple Life in Chelsea followed her attempts to live sustainably in central London, rescuing battery hens, gaining planning permission for the first wind turbine and solar panels in Chelsea, and giving up flying.
She says: “While it is a challenge representing the highest Remain voting constituency after Gibraltar, I feel it is imperative to nail my colours to the mast as a Brexit candidate.
“I passionately feel that the top-down dogmatic EU project promoting endless industrial development and growth doesn’t fit with the green vision of a future lived on a more human scale.”