5 July 2024
We are delighted to welcome Maria Deery to the team of Greens on Lancaster City Council, taking our number of Councillors to 22.
The composition of the Council is now Labour 23, Green 22, 7 Lib Dem, 5 Conservative, 3 Morecambe Bay Independents and 1 non-aligned Independent.
Maria spoke to students around campus about the improvements they would like to see, and made pledges based on
5 areas of concern she has identified around the cost of living crisis, lack of mental health services, the Palestine Solidarity encampment (a protest camp against University involvement in the arms industry), student safety and Net Zero targets. She promised to make sure the voice of Lancaster University students is heard.
Maria spoke out during the campaign about how the cost of living crisis is affecting students, saying:
"The cost of living crisis has affected us all in one way or another. In a study of over 4500 uni students, the NUS found that 96% of students are making cutbacks because of the cost of living crisis.
"More than a quarter of these are living on less than £50 a month after paying bills and rent. The university offers many different avenues of support like the supper club, community cupboards and LUSU pantry.
These are amazing programmes that have been able to support the people struggling most, but, its just not enough. As your councillor I would be able to get involved in the cost of living group, a group responsible for assessing what students need most to help them through this extremely tricky time."
During much of the campaign Maria was based at the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on campus and invited students to come and speak to her at any time.
The turnout for the election was very low due to the election being held after the end of university term, when most students had gone home. This did not make it easier to campaign, in addition the campaign began in exam season, there was the protest camp, and the local party had a General Election campaign to run at the same time!
So - we were delighted with the campaign run by Maria, Tom, and the team at the University and the result!
On hearing of the win, Maria said: 
"UNI WARD IS OFFICIALLY GREEN! I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who put their trust in me and voted green on campus. Thank you to the North Lancs Greens for selecting me to stand and helping me through the nomination papers. I will be joining 21 of our incredible Green Councillors on Lancaster City Council and get to contribute to the amazing work they do.
And the biggest thank you to my amazing campaign team, all your hard work made this possible. You are all such inspiring people especially to have put so much into this during the run up to a general election. I can't wait to get started and work with Tom Fish to make campus a safer, more inclusive and better place for everyone."
You can see more about Maria here
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