Resurgence of the Green Party?

The Green Party has never been particularly popular. Their one and only electoral triumph, to the astonishment of many, came twenty years ago when it won over 2 million votes in the 1989 European elections. Since then, however, support for the party has been weak. Could this all soon change?

In a YouGov poll to be released tomorrow (Mon 18 May), 34% of respondents said they would either be voting Green or would consider voting Green. This is the highest percentage ever to indicate potential support for the party.

Over the last few years they have expanded, changing their political tune to make forward progress. Once fiercely opposed to economic growth, they now suggest they are the best party to save the economy. In a new advertising campaign, they aim to persuade voters who think they know them to “think again.”

Lib Dem voters are the largest group to consider switching to Green. The second largest are Labour voters, who, actually, are usually the most likely to switch to Green. Interestingly, one in five of the survey’s respondents were Conservative, the group considered least likely to contemplate changing colour.

Caroline Lucas, the first ever official leader of the Green Party, recently told The Independent: "It's a really exciting time for us. People are looking for alternatives. The three other parties are collected around an ever-smaller centre ground. A whole area of the political spectrum is completely empty, and it's an area where we feel we are the natural occupiers."

This new surge of potential Green interest comes amid the expenses row, where MP’s from the three main parties have been publically, and quite rightly, shamed for spending tax payers’ money on a variety of superfluous domestic adjustments. UKIP are considered unlikely to benefit from voters' anger at other parties' sleaze thanks to its own frequently-criticised record.

And so the Greens themselves are not ruling out a possible eruption of interest like that in 1989. But even a much smaller swing from the big three could be enough to win new Green seats in several regions, as well as holding the party's existing seats in London and the South East.

Peter Cranie, top Green candidate in the North West, commented:

"This 34% is the best indication we've ever had that people would consider voting Green. And the other poll showing us at 11% is extremely encouraging, not least because the Greens have always been underestimated in polls before Euro-elections. In 1989 we were showing at 7-8% but we got 15%. And we only need about 8% in some regions to win seats.

"We do expect that the current disenchantment with the big three parties will prompt more people to take a second look at the Greens. Our Euro-election broadcast has been very well received and we believe our million-jobs manifesto is going to strike a chord with a lot of people.
"When it comes down to it, we're the only party in this election that (a) isn't mired in sleaze and (b) is putting forward a positive vision."

He added: "There is still a lot of speculation about disillusioned Labour voters voting BNP as a protest. But I really can't see why left-of-centre voters would want to vote for the extremist far right.”