Brother of Sanders gets frontline role with UK Greens

Larry Sanders, 81, becomes health spokesman for Green Party two days after Bernie’s New Hampshire primary win

By AFP 12 February 2016, 3:12 am 1

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Larry Sanders, brother of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, speaks to CNN in January 2016. (screen capture: CNN)

The brother of Democratic US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders was named as the new health spokesman for England and Wales’s Green Party Thursday, two days after his sibling’s New Hampshire primary win.

Larry Sanders, who is 81 and has lived in Britain since 1969, is a retired social worker. He stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Greens in Oxford at last year’s general election and has also represented them on the local council.

“Bernie’s main platform is almost identical to the Green Party’s,” Larry Sanders said in a press release released by the Greens confirming his appointment.

On his brother’s chances in the race for the White House, he added: “I wasn’t so sure how he would do at first, but the way things have been going recently, can he do it? Yes he can.”

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., smiles as he greats attendees during a campaign stop at the University of New Hampshire Whittemore Center Arena, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Durham, N.H. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Green Party policies at the 2015 election included increasing the minimum wage to £10 (13 euros, $14) an hour, introducing a wealth tax on the richest one percent of voters and ending austerity measures.

They have just one lawmaker in Britain’s House of Commons.

Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont who describes himself as a democratic socialist, finished well ahead of rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary and is drawing strong support from voters, including many younger ones.