The Green Party: today and tomorrow

The Green Party has been a part of British politics since 1972 with the formation of PEOPLE and currently exists as 3 parties corresponding to the devolved partitions of England/Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 40 years in, and the Green Party is by far the largest environmental political party in the UK, and even gained its first MP, with Caroline Lucas winning Brighton Pavilion in the 2010 General Election.

With environmentalism being at the front and centre of modern politics, the last 10 years have represented a watershed era for the Greens. On one hand, there are significant votes available for green policy, which has long been their domain; on the other, the mainstream parties have leapt into the fray desperately trying to prove that they can hug trees harder than their Right Honourable opponents. This is probably best illustrated by the worst illustration in modern politics where someone with the artistic flair of a 5-year old (my guess is Boris Johnson) took a crayon and drew a “tree” as the new symbol of the oldest political party in the world.

Considering the Greens have recently been forced into a policy turf war with the heavyweights of parliament, it is probably fair to say they have done better than many would have expected. By embracing any green policy proposed by any side (admittedly often alongside the caveat that such a policy is a step in the right direction, but does not go far enough), they have been happy to encourage talk and put policy over politics, resisting the urge to ascend a lofty stallion. This strategy obviously ran the risk of rendering their party obsolete if the opposition truly embraced measures to save the environment, so it is commendable that the Greens didn’t roll their eyes and claim that they were still the only true environmentalists.

Ms Lucas’ step up to the Commons represents a monumental step for an environmental party in the UK, and was as every bit as “historic” as she claimed at the time. She has been a very active member, voting in an above-par three quarters of available votes during her time in the commons. Additionally she has made an impressive 70 speeches during already this year and proposed 71 motions.

However, for all this, it is fair to say the Greens have not stamped their authority on British politics. They have made strides, recently even, but they have failed to make much of an impact A good case study for the UK Greens on how to be environmental and still successful is Die Grünen of Germany who have been a force since the early 80s in West Germany.

Firstly, Die Grünen’s rise to prominence was driven by an iconic and popular figurehead. Joschka Fischer resonated with the people through a forthright and honest approach to politics cutting through the PR speak prevalent in modern politics (politely describing the Vice President an a**hole to his face and outright calling the Americans liars when presented with “evidence” of WMDs in Iraq). Taking his inauguration in trainers is still aninfamous and amusing moment that most Germans will recall. Caroline Lucas may have risen to the status of household name in the last three years, but she has not had the reformed rebel charisma of Fischer. Without such an icon a la Fischer/Blair/Thatcher (hell, even a Johnson or a Farage would do) then the Greens are unlikely to be listened to in today’s politics.

Secondly and arguably more importantly, Die Grünen’s base is split broadly into two camps, the ideological environmentalist (the fundis) and the model politicians who are willing to play the game of the Bundestag to pass legislation (the realos). They attribute their success to this inherent schism within the party. The fundis as a party unto themselves would never have the political nous to have an impact on legislation, whilst a party consisting of purely realos would inevitably meander away from their principles. Together they form a party with both a concept driven supporter-base and the means to enact change.

In comparison, the Greens are currently fundi-only. Speaking as a scientist, my first thought when turning my mind to the actions of the Green party in recent years is that of Jenny Jones threatening to go and destroy millions of pounds of perfectly safe GM research crops. The plants in question had virtually no chance to contaminate the environment, and simply enhanced a naturally produced chemical to ward off pests, saving farmers from flooding their land with truly damaging pesticides. This was vocal fundi environmentalist’s wailing against the true environmentalists of this scenario – the scientists.

For the record, the people who claim all Greens are science hating luddites are liars. However, the majority of the Greens are people who take a different view of environmentalists to the overwhelmingly environmentalist scientific community, particularly with regards to genetics and animal testing. This does not make either side right, but it does make their opinions skewed and unrelatable to a large block of potential voters. Unfortunately this is a symptom, not the problem. The problem for the Greens is much bigger.

The Greens will never get into power. Sorry, but it’s true. They are not Labour, they are not Tories but they are competing in a first-past-the-post system. The Greens will never have enough seats to make a difference in our electoral system so the realos who want to actually make a difference don’t join the Greens, but (usually) join Labour. This leaves a now even less electable fundi-dominated Green party who become less appealing to the voting masses.

What they needed was someone to stand up and fight for an undeniably superior system (the one from Germany would be nice). What they didn’t need was someone to try to get PR, only to fail in such a spectacularly pathetic manner. So for anyone who cares about environmental politics and bemoans the lack of a viable party to represent these views, remember – blame Nick Clegg