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Green Party: A Near Future Alternative

The Green Party is less than 30 years old and could be worth checking out for many bored of the old ways.

By Patrick HollisPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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The ongoing stalemate in the Houses of Parliament would have left some UK voters questioning the loyalty to any of the three established parties. With Conservatives and Labour attempting to undermine each other rather than cross party divides to give the country the best Brexit deal possible, and the Liberal Democrats being out in the wilderness, a smaller party could try to capitalise.

The Green Party, formed in 1990, is a leftwing party that has put environmental issues to the forefront, as well as saying that they would address health, the economy, reducing train prices, and re-introducing free University education. Their co-leaders, Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry, came together at the top of the party last year and the party has one Member of Parliament. Caroline Lucas is the MP for Brighton and has consistently and, obviously, been against Brexit and any format of leaving the European Union.

It is this policy on Brexit that will make them appealing to those wanting to remain in the EU. The party has been very clear on its intentions to avoid Brexit ever since the referendum in 2016. They campaigned for a people’s vote on what kind of deal the UK got back in March 2018, and more recently expressed their negativity towards a "no deal" Brexit. Member of European Parliament and Brexit Spokesperson Molly Scott:

"It is deeply worrying that leaving the EU without a deal is being discussed as a plausible outcome. Let’s be absolutely clear, there is no conceivable way that a no-deal Brexit can be acceptable. End of story. It ultimately doesn’t matter if there is a battle with Brussels or not. If we leave with no deal, the damage will have been done."

Keeping the environmental and ecological pillars of the party at the forefront, in the same August 2018 statement, Scott spoke of the importance of remaining in the EU for the nation’s farmers:

"The effect it would have on Britain’s agriculture would be catastrophic. If farmers can’t export to the continent, it will still severely threaten their incomes. Even if short-term measures are implemented, they will not address the immediate problem of deciding what to plant next spring."

They are a party which hinges on environmental policies, and judging on this alone, it's tricky to see why they have not gained more votes than they have in the past. They believe that environmental, economic, and social issues can all be linked and that one must be solved for them all to be solved. Surely, they can’t be shallow or misleading by putting so much of their manifesto around improving the environment? This point surely isn’t seen as negative by other parties—after all, we’ll all suffer from a planet beyond repair.

At the last election in 2017, the Greens received just over half a million votes which was double their outcome in 2010, but half of their 2015 result. Despite the decline, the Greens are a progressive party that given the right exposure could receive at least a small upwind in votes caused by people’s loss of faith in the main parties.

The Green Party will not send shockwaves around the political world in the next election, or maybe even the one after that, but they have a more genuine and wholesome plan than any of the traditional parties. They are still relatively fresh on the scene in comparison, and would benefit from closer relationships with the likes of the Labour Party on the left and even the Liberal Democrats closer to the centre of the political spectrum.

They are a party that many British people still know little about, but a read of their policies and some research into what they stand for could change all this and be the catalyst for a small shift in the tide of British politics, away from the sometimes stagnated state of the bigger parties.

politics
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Patrick Hollis

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