The membership of the UK Green parties continues to surge
and yesterday surpassed that of UKIP membership. Although, the England and Wales,
Scottish and Northern Irish Green parties are separate parties, when totalled
together the Greens are now the fifth largest party in UK. They are also hot on
the heels of the Lib Dems, who they should surpass in the coming weeks.
I can’t help thinking that with the Green party being
excluded from the televised leaders’ election debate, it has actually fuelled this
rapid increase in our numbers. Yesterday for example, my local Green party in
Haringey had 31 new members join, which I think is a record for a single day. I
think the unfairness of excluding the Greens from the debates has been good for
us, and who knows we may yet get to be included. Green party Leader Natalie
Bennett told London live that “there was an hour yesterday when a new person
was joining every 10 seconds,” commenting on the national picture.
Polling company YouGov released a poll today for The
Sun newspaper which finds that:
67% of Britons think Natalie Bennett, the leader
of the Green party, should be invited to take part in the leaders’ debates.
72% think it is unfair that the Green party are
not included and the Liberal Democrats are, given their similar level of
support in some polls.
Only 16% see the Lib Dems being in government
and having more MPs as a good enough reason for them to be included and the
Greens omitted.
The poll also puts us ahead of the Lib Dems in its headline
figures.
A Guardian poll on their website today finds that 85%
disagree with the statement ‘Ofcom says UKIP is a major party, but the Greens
aren't – do you agree?’ When I last looked.
Multi party politics is here to stay it seems for the
foreseeable future, but only one main (‘national’) party offers the electorate
the opportunity to cast a vote against the disastrous austerity policies of the
establishment parties.
That party is the Green party.
Mike, would you mind if I reblogged this on my own site?
ReplyDeleteYes, that is fine Alan. Please credit our blog with a link.
ReplyDeleteWill do Mike thanks :)
ReplyDeleteMike, do you - or anybody else - know if there's a counter somewhere, that automatically records Green Party membership totals? I can't find one online anywhere and suspect there is no such thing immediately available, but... watching it click over regularly would be an exciting experience for armchair duffers like me!
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is such a thing Marcus, but it is a great idea. Come on Green party press office, get this going!
ReplyDelete