The Green Party had a mixed day at the local elections in Leeds last month.
While the party lost one of its three councillors to Labour, they managed to snatch a seat back off the ruling party in the city’s Hunslet and Riverside ward.
The beneficiary was 43 year-old Ed Carlisle, who is one of 13 new faces among Leeds’ elected representatives this summer. Not that he’s taking his new role for granted.
“Ultimately when you’re in a smaller party life is more fragile,” a philosophical Councillor Carlisle says, a couple of weeks after his election.
“To be honest, one thing that attracted me to Green Party is that there’s no safe seats. Green candidates have to fight really hard and prove themselves over and over again.
“As a party we embrace it because it keeps us on our toes. And I wish there were fewer safe seats because it would keep more political representatatives on their toes.”
Councillor Carlisle was originally brought up in North Derbyshire. But with jobs at a premium in nearby Sheffield during the 80s’ recession, his family moved south to Kent, before later spending time in Northampton and the Midlands.
Like many in the cosmopolitan Leeds of the 21st century, Councillor Carlisle came to the city to study and hasn’t left since, even if his first day was far from ideal.
“I came here on an open day,” he says. “For reasons I can’t explain, because I actually got pickpocketed on the day as well, I came away from the day thinking, “Leeds is the place.”
“I came here to study and I’ve loved it ever since.”
An English and French student, Councillor Carlisle’s language skills held him in good stead when he managed to hitchhike to Morocco with a friend in just three days.
The event, which sounds akin to the BBC’s Race Across the World series, saw students from across the country take part.
“I think we were faster than everyone else,” Councillor Carlisle proudly recalls. “The trick to hitchhiking is you need to get to petrol stations and chat to people on the forecourts.
“If you’re stood at the side of the road it’s far too easy for people to think, “Could be an axe murderer – keep going.”
“Whereas if they can see the whites of your eyes and you can try to be charming, they’ll be more likely to pick you up. Between us we spoke a reasonable level of French and Spanish. Not loads – but enough to be able to chat to people.”
Coun Carlisle recalls he and his friend having to sleep rough and “very cold” in a playground in the Pyrenees, which straddles the French-Spanish border, on one of the nights.
But their luck was transformed at a service station the next day when they met a pair of Russian drivers with seemingly little regard for the Spanish speed limit.
“They spoke no English, but they worked out what we were doing and said they were driving to the south of Spain in five minutes time,” Councillor Carlisle recalls.
“So we got in their very fast van and they drove us at very high speed to the south of Spain. That’s one of the reasons we got there so fast!”
Now a resident of Beeston, Councillor Carlisle’s been a familiar face in south Leeds for much of the last 20 years. He helped set up the local charity Together for Peace, in 2003, which helps disadvantaged communities and people across West Yorkshire, while he’s also spent time doing youth work and helping asylum seekers and refugees.
Before being elected he was involved in the community newspaper South Leeds Life, though he has since stepped back to help it maintain its political neutrality.
The “varied career” he’s had in the voluntary and community sectors means he’s taken in “less and less paid income” over the years. But as a self-confessed “scrimper”, “miser” and “informal scrap metal dealer”, he’s got used to living on a shoestring.
“Although councillors don’t get paid a lot, now I’ve been elected it’s like, “Wooahh I can buy myself a coffee now”,” he jokes.
And despite the lack of job security that comes with being a Green councillor, he senses a reasonably bright future for the party. He’d initially considered standing in Leeds as an independent candidate, but what he saw as the Greens’ “bold politics” drew him into signing up as a member in 2014.
“I think a growing number of people clearly are engaged in climate change and the challenges that presents,” he suggests. “And I think The Green Party offers a tangible way for people to say “I’m in for tackling climate change.”
“But as a party it does have policies about everything. It’s committed to social justice and not just climate change. I think we have an advantage in that people do know exactly what they’re voting for.
“That’s not a criticism of the bigger parties, but I think it’s to do with their (long) history a little bit, whereas the Green Party have only been going 40 years.”
Representing one of the UK’s busiest urban areas close to a major city centre is not an easy challenge. But for a man with enough enthusiasm and energy to trek 2,000 miles in three days, no-one should doubt Ed Carlisle is up for taking it on.
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