What next for the Green Party?

The Green Party, which saw unprecedented success in July's general election, has used its party conference to pitch itself as the party of hope against what it says is a "bleak" offering from Labour.

The Green Party has "grown significantly" in recent years, having gone from one to four MPs in the most recent general election, and now boasting more than 800 councillors across the UK. Membership increased from 53,000 at the end of 2023 to 59,000, and about 1,000 members, "half of them new", attended the party's annual conference in Manchester last week, said the Financial Times. 

Labour 'getting it wrong'

Indeed, the mood was "optimistic" as the Green Party emerged from its annual conference, said the paper. Deputy leader Zack Polanski used his conference speech to capitalise on his party's recent successes, pitching the Greens as the party of hope against a starker offering from Labour. He said that while there had been a "collective sigh of relief" at the end of 14 years of Conservative rule, Labour "promised change, but actually what they're offering is bleak".

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If "the 2024 general election taught us anything, it was that voters can be flaky", said Sky News political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh. To counteract this the Greens "are hoping their strong election performance is a good foundation to build into longer-lasting support". Co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay "are starting with communities they think are most disaffected with mainstream politics".

The party is also keen to shake off its old image as an "idealistic and unrealistic" political party, added the paper. Speaking to the FT, Hannah Spencer, a Green councillor in Manchester, said that while the media was keen to "paint us as unrealistic" the party had "proved time and time again that we are a serious political force".

Ramsay also used the conference to outline the Greens' core policy goals, including nationalising water services, taxing the wealthiest, defending public services and stopping the Rosebank oilfield, saying that "in so many areas, Labour is getting it wrong".

The Greens also used the conference to position themselves as the party of long-term vision and progressive change. Newly elected MP Ellie Chowns called for a "10-, 20-, 30-year plan" to tackle issues such as the environment, housing, and social care during her speech at the Manchester conference. Criticising the short-termism of Westminster politics, she said the political system "does not reward consensus building" or foster a culture in which politics made a lasting change.

'Growing pains'

But behind the party's successes lie internal divisions and "growing pains", said PoliticsHome. And "nowhere is this tension more stark" than on the battleground of gender identity. "With Labour's Corbynite flank welcomed into the fold, more traditional, environmentally focused Green Party members are feeling sidelined by the influx of younger, more socially liberal types who are often motivated by identity politics", said the news site. 

Since 2021, 10 members of Green Party Women (GPW), a group which claims to "defend and extend the rights of women and girls", have been suspended or expelled from the party. At least 17 signatories of the Green Women's Declaration, which advocates for women as a sex, have also been suspended. 

In Scotland, the Green Party is at odds with its former coalition partners, the SNP, signalling they may vote against First Minister John Swinney's budget "because they can no longer trust the SNP in government", said The Times. Swinney's debut programme for government has "provoked anger" from the Scottish Greens as it "watered down, cut, or kicked into the long grass" key policies the two parties had agreed upon in coalition. It would mark a significant break from the norm if the Scottish Greens did not support the budget, as they have backed every SNP budget since 2016.

Beyond internal conflicts, the Green Party's stance on international issues is also increasingly coming into focus. At the Manchester conference, the party hosted a fringe event in collaboration with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), marking the first time they officially partnered with the group, "in a sign of the membership's increasing support for the Palestinian people", said The Independent.