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| Natalie Bennett - Leader of the Green Party |
RENATIONALISING the railways, keeping the NHS in public
hands, free social care for the elderly, free school meals, an increase in
child benefit.
All Green Party policies which should appeal to the Left in
Britain – the section of society which frequently complains of being ignored by
the Labour Party.
So why aren’t former Labour voters flocking to the Green
Party in droves?
When the Right felt disengaged with the Conservatives, they
turned to Ukip.
Here was a party which talked about, and took strong, clear,
positions, on issues which former Tory voters cared: Europe and immigration, mainly.
Is there a more powerful politician on the UK political
scene right now than Nigel Farage? Without a single representative in the House
of Commons he managed to get one of his key policies – an in/out referendum on
EU membership – on the statute books.
So why isn’t the Green Party seen as the Left wing
equivalent? Why isn’t it able to force the Labour leadership to embrace some of
its ideas on public ownership or social responsibility?
This question was put to Green Party members yesterday at
their conference in Brighton, not by a journalist looking to stir things up,
but by its own leadership.
With policies which tie in so completely with some of the
ideals of the Left, why haven’t they broken through like Ukip have?
Well, in some ways, they have done better. The Green’s have
an MP – Caroline Lucas from Brighton – and Ukip do not.
Greens control Brighton and Hove Council which has an annual
budget of more than £200million. Ukip control Ramsey Town Council – budget around
£160,000.
But Ukip are more powerful.
At the debate session, members talked about the popularity of
Farage (“If he was run over by a bus tomorrow Ukip would be over,” one member
argued) while others said Ukip were better at photo opportunities.
There was some agreement among members that the Greens had
too many policies in too much detail. Ukip are seen as vague about some issues,
but people know what the party stands for.
It is true. Ukip, and Farage, have done a brilliant PR job.
Even if you have never heard a policy line from them, you can work out what it
would be.
Banning advertising to children? Too nanny state.
War in Syria? Not our fight.
Foreign aid? Cut it, keep the money in Britain.
Perhaps the Green’s need to work harder on getting their
values across instead of their policies.
But one of the big problems – and one which was whispered by
some senior members of the party to me – is the reputation the Green’s already
have.
You may have seen the pictures of the protests against
fracking in Balcombe, West Sussex. And if you haven’t, I’m sure you can imagine
what they looked like.
‘Hippy’ types, with ponchos, face paint and dreadlocks,
sitting in drum circles eating vegan wraps.
That is the image of Green supporters, and be that fair or
unfair, the Party doesn’t help itself by aligning itself with such people in
the minds of the public.
Also, as one member pointed out, the Party is seen as the ‘anti-party’
– anti-fracking, anti-cars, anti-flights, anti-Page 3.
People don’t like constantly being told what they shouldn’t
be doing.
But if the Green Party can instead put the emphasis on being
a pro-party (pro-cheaper energy, pro-NHS, pro-social care, pro-public
ownership), they might just be able to attract the disaffected Left in
sufficient numbers to begin setting the agenda in the same way Ukip has.
And that is something else Ed Miliband may have
to be worried about.
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