St Albans Green Party candidate Jack Easton believes the people should vote for him as a “sensible, grounded person trying to take the long term view”.

Mr Easton, a chartered accountant who moved to the centre of St Albans in 1999, is “absolutely convinced the Green Party has the right idea” in creating a sustainable, long term plan.

On Brexit, Mr Easton is keen to see a second referendum to ensure people have a say on the terms of our EU departure, and believes it is most important that everyone gets the best deal, including the EU itself.

He said: “What we need is an open debate and participation by MPs and expert groups.

“We need a structure where everyone knows what’s going onto the table and the sorts of things the people want to keep, as well as the most obvious.”

Mr Easton is also for the renationalisation of the rail industry and withdrawal of private elements from the NHS, as he believes this will mean it is better funded and will lessen competition.

He said: “All of that marketization essentially takes money out of the service into private hands and increases the administration and financial accounting to a marked degree.”

Mr Easton would like to see the introduction of clean air zones to reduce the number of cars on the road and the extension of bus services from villages to the city centre, after readings from the St Albans Green Party showed the area around St Peter’s Street was higher than EU and World Health Organisation limits.

Mr Easton also believes the rail freight should be “opposed to the bitter end” for both environmental and strategic reasons.

He said: “It doesn’t fit any description of a strategic location for a rail freight terminal so it can’t be right to put it there and it’s green belt anyway.”

But Mr Easton would not have a person vote for him so much as for his “willingness to pursue Green ideas”.