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Caroline Russell, Lady Keating (born 10 August 1962) is a British politician and activist serving as Leader of the Green Party in the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
since October 2018, and a
Member of the London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
(AM) for Londonwide since May 2016.


Early life and education

Caroline Russell was born on 10 August 1962. She studied civil engineering at City, University of London, graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) degree and studied fine art at Goldsmiths, University of London, graduating with a Master of Arts (MA) degree. She first moved to Islington in 1986.


Political career

Russell became engaged in politics after the death of a young child in a traffic incident near where she lived. In 2012, Russell was serving as local transport spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales. Russell was elected as a councillor for Highbury East on Islington council in the May 2014 election by a margin of eight votes. She was the only member of the council not representing the Labour Party and so was the only opposition member. In October 2014, she called for Holloway Road to have a speed limit of 20 mph, a road controlled by Transport for London which had not been affected by Islington council's earlier 20 mph limit on all roads they controlled. In December of the same year, she criticised as "authoritarian" a Labour councillor's comments that cannabis users should not be allowed to live in
council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...
. Russell stood for election in the 2015 general election for the Islington North constituency. The Labour candidate Jeremy Corbyn won, with Russell coming in third place with 5,043 votes and a voteshare of 10.2%. She was elected as a London-wide
Member of the London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
in 2016, having been the second candidate on the Green Party list. In October 2018, she condemned the Labour mayor of London Sadiq Khan over plans for the Silvertown Tunnel, a new road tunnel under the Thames that she said would "lead to more pollution and congestion". She again contested the Islington North constituency in the
2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November  ...
, this time coming fourth with 2,229 votes constituting 4.1% of votes cast. In December 2017, she promoted and participated in a "human barrier" demonstration in favour of safer bike lanes. Russell was re-elected as an Islington councillor in the
2018 election The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2018. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. Africa *2018 Djiboutian parliamentary election 23 February 2018 *2018 Sierra Leonean general elect ...
. In July 2018, she called for Khan to reduce speed limits to 20 mph in outer London as well as inner London. In August 2018, she was chair of the environemtnal committee on the London Assembly. In December of the same year, she successfully proposed a motion at the London Assembly that brought forward the city's target to be carbon neutral from 2050 to 2030. In April 2019, a report Russell commissioned into the impact of the climate crisis on London was released. In the following month, Transport for London suspended advertising from a list of countries with poor human rights records after Russell raised the issue. In August 2019, she was arrested at a protest against the prorogation of Parliament. In September of the same year, after flooding in London underground stations, she highlighted findings of her report from earlier in the year that 23 underground stations were vulnerable to flooding. She stood in the
2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...
, again for Islington North, and came in 4th place with 4,326 votes making up 8.0% of the overall vote. Russell was the second candidate on the Green Party list for the
2021 London Assembly election The 2021 London Assembly election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the members of the London Assembly, alongside the 2021 London mayoral election. The mayoral and Assembly elections were originally to be held on 7 May 2020, but on 13 March 2020 ...
, which had been scheduled for 2020 before being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She won re-election.


Personal life

In 1989, Russell married
Roly Keating Roland Francis Kester Keating (born 5 August 1961) is Chief Executive of the British Library. He took up his post in September 2012. Early life and education Keating was born on 5 August 1961 to Donald Norman Keating and Betty Katharine Keating ...
. Together they have three children; one son and two daughters.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Caroline 1962 births Living people Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of City, University of London Green Party of England and Wales parliamentary candidates Green Party Members of the London Assembly Councillors in the London Borough of Islington Green Party of England and Wales councillors Place of birth missing (living people) Wives of knights Women councillors in England