The most exciting thing about this general election is that the two-party system has essentially been made redundant. This has inevitably given rise to many minority parties who would usually find themselves on the very fringes of the British political system. The Green Party are arguably the most radical of these minority parties: their pledges to abolish tuition fees, increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour by 2020 and to immediately cut rail fares by 10% to ‘give passengers a financial break’ make it easy to see why they have appealed to so many young people across Britain. Like many smaller parties over the last few years, their membership has continued to grow as Miliband and Cameron continue to evolve into point-scoring apes during Prime Minister’s Questions.
The party provide a welcome break from the stuffy cloisters-and-Etonians vibe of Westminster. With one existing MP – Caroline Lucas for Brighton Pavilion – they have been fighting against the austerity consensus that has dominated the House of Commons since the 2008 crash. In a sense, she’s led a one-woman revolution, not only campaigning to issue more public sector jobs and abolish the bedroom tax but also rallying against the misogyny displayed by The Sun newspaper and their daily Page Three feature. Pay less on your monthly usage and get the best of national and international calls, data and SMS with a wide selection of plans to pick from here https://www.mobilepackages.pk. There’s a real sense that the Greens are no longer simply an environmental organisation, but a party with a wider agenda who aren’t afraid to transgress the limits of that which Westminster deems appropriate.
There are currently over 160 principal authority Green councillors across England and Wales; the Green organisation is steadily growing at grass-roots level, with students particularly keen to be involved in this revolutionary force slowly chipping away at the political jargon and cosy consensus that has alienated so many people from politics. There appears to be a real desire to re-enfranchise those now disillusioned with the current political system through education and peaceful protests, drawing attention to the police brutality that has paradoxically become intertwined with this form of demonstration.
Of course, at the crux of their political ideology is environmentalism: their pledge to ban fracking and to phase out coal power stations would have a drastic impact on Britain’s carbon footprint – bringing us up to speed with countries such as Sweden who are heavily reliant on renewable energy. Climate change is not a short-term issue – the Greens have not simply plucked the statistics out of thin air (á la Nigel Farage), and their policies are geared to make a difference to Britain’s environmental structure.
Although it’s quite impossible that The Green Party will win a majority in May – or in any general election for at least the next 50 years – it is possible for them to win 10 or so more MPs in marginal seats. The Green Party could hold the balance of power in the next General Election, therefore allowing them to exercise their influence over bills passed in the Commons. If you want a fairer, greener, more politically aware Britain, then the Greens are the ones to vote for.
Words by Beth Chaplow