Piercing the white noise of party conference season

We hear all too frequently these days that party political conferences should be scrapped, but I have to disagree. I've spent the last three weeks knee-deep in policy announcements, soundings from fringe events and the shifting of political allegiances between key figures in their parties. For the Green Party, generally thrust in the media shadows around this time, this presents an ideal opportunity to view the platforms of our political competitors in forensic detail, enabling us to glean insight into the roads ahead and the pitfalls that threaten us.

Of our main two competitors, the Liberal Democrats and Labour, I sensed that they remained unable to cut through to the public mood. In both their embrace and impotent loss of power, these parties have turned dialogue inwards and focussed upon their internal concerns. As a consequence, the level of political debate felt muted and weak, oblivious to the economic precipice the country stands upon. The growth strategies of all parties remain unfinished and whilst they continue to shy away from putting meat on the bones of their philosophies, they will be ignored by the electorate.

However, I do think that the Green Party runs the risk of embracing the same level of complacency. In much the same way as the Liberal Democrats have had their heads turned, our recent modest electoral success has satiated some of the political hunger that has driven us for the last 20 years. My concern will be that the leadership of the party will find it easier to put all our eggs in the basket that Brighton and Hove Council represents, as well as our local MP, rather than force us to take risks and invest in new campaigns nationally. The "wasted vote" argument does hold sway still in vast swathes of the country and will only crumble under the sustained efforts of elected local Green councillors. I'm keen for us to focus less on parliamentary fights and more on capacity-building broadly across regions, such as the North-West (who narrowly missed electing a further Green MEP). Experience teaches us that the Green vote hardens when voters see us in action on their behalf.

The other bitter pill to swallow from party conferences is the realisation that party activists from Labour and the Liberal Democrats clearly look as if they have reserves of smart, competent and single-minded politicians ready to step into power. We still need to identify and nurture unique voices within Green ranks, individuals with a rich level of experience. Otherwise, we will stack our fortunes upon the shoulders of our party leader and the scant other national figures, which isn't sustainable in the longer term. At our recent national conference, I was excited to see so many young activists full of energy and ideas, but many less of my generation able to step up to the challenges ahead.

Our employment strategy needs work too. As much as I have been one of the strongest cheerleaders for the common-sense approach of our New Green Deal agenda, I am fearful that it remains a relevant strategy for certain sections of UK industry. Whilst the knock on effect of it's success would be pumping more consumer spending into the wider economy, it does feel like a partial approach to a global problem from within our environmental comfort zone. What do we have to say to the broader range of professions under threat and experiencing flatline growth and job losses?

It's quite a gauntlet to lay down to my own party, but times have never been as serious as this. None of the other parties have come up yet with a compelling argument, so there is an opening for us to cogently speak to the fears and aspirations of the electorate whilst they conduct a conversation amongst themselves.

I have been pretty uncompromising in this post, for which I make no apology. But I'm keen to hear - what do you think the Greens should learn from the other party conferences this year?

Green Party Autumn Conference 2011: Day 2

As you might expect, the second day of conference is where party business intensifies. Once the national news cycle around the Leader's Speech subsides and remaining delegates arrive in the city, attention turns firmly to voting upon policy motions and the substantive discussions on the fringe circuit.

Things kicked off early with the Deputy Leader's speech. Viewed as a rallying cry to enthuse activists (the traditional role of Deputy Leader speeches), Adrian Ramsay's address can be deemed a success. That said, the content he chose resolutely refused to stray far from the script Caroline Lucas had laid down the day before and was therefore unlikely to interest news reporting for a second day, which is a shame. Within the strictures of his role, I would encourage him to continue to hone a distinctive voice and policy platform that both complements Caroline's and surprises the audience. This year I found his speech likeable, but underwhelming.

One issue that did rouse a great deal of debate was a seemingly innocuous motion to come out against the Government's Immigration Cap and reaffirm our commitment to a fair and liberal immigration system. In the end, it became quite an impassioned discussion and whilst there was understandable opposition to it due to the potential political mischief the media could make of our existing policy, at other times some speakers skirted dangerously close in my view to being racist. One participant even argued that environmental sustainability should always take precedence over social justice, something I have real political difficulty with. Thankfully, the motion eventually passed intact, but it was a sharp reminder that we must guard against complacency in moving towards a more diverse membership that challenges such outdated views.

Later in the afternoon, I chaired a fringe session with both Deputy Leaders of Brighton & Hove's Green Council, as well as number of Cabinet members and Councillors from my home city. It was a really great opportunity for members around the country to ask some pretty direct questions about our experience of taking power in a local authority and get a sense of some of the challenges we hadn't seen coming! In spite of being held at the same time as one of the keynote panels on inequality, we had a really substantial turnout and could have easily continued talking into the night. As a local party not noted for our large conference delegations, it was really heartening to see fellow members from home connecting with others around the country and sharing strategies.

Finally, I have to report that I was sadly not successful in my bid to be elected to the Green Party Executive. I really felt I fought as strong as a campaign as I could over the summer on this. Anyway, I'm staying chipper - political setbacks are good character building exercises! I really felt I got to understand the values and priorities of the membership through old fashioned debate and listening and hopefully gave members a healthy democratic contest to get their teeth into in a year when most GPEx roles were uncontested. Thanks to all of my readers who actively supported my candidacy, either through kind words or well-placed publicising of my blog articles on the subject. I'm weighing up where to put my energy next, but I've not done with contributing to the party. I'm as hungry for us to move forward towards success as ever.

Green Party Autumn Conference 2011: Day 1

Greetings from Sheffield! As delegates start drifting back in this morning from their night at the bar, I thought I'd write a quick report on some of the highlights and my reflections on the first day of conference.

The dominant event of the first day was the keynote speech by Caroline Lucas as party leader. Although she is always someone who speaks plainly, I was impressed to see a slightly harder edge in her address to conference than perhaps I am used to. Her speech was structured around a scathing, forensic analysis of the record for each of the other political parties and reminded both Green members (and those Lib Dems watching explicitly) why their failures in power rendered them unable to take moral leadership in dealing with the challenges we face over this Parliament. From talking to delegates plugged in to the media response to conference, her message has received real traction across the Guardian, BBC Radio 4 and 5. She has explicitly thrown down the gauntlet to Nick Clegg in his home constituency and whilst her request that Lib Dems disappointed by their party join us is not unexpected, it does give a novel sense that she is parking tanks on his lawn.

What else happened? For me personally, it was a slightly frustrating day, as the results from the Green Party Executive (GPEx) elections were postponed until today due to the lateness of the submission date for ballots. In a session which allowed members to question GPEx on their performance in the last year, I got a sense of how tough a role that will be too, although talking to some of the elected officers really underlined to me how rewarding it might be to support the membership across the whole party. Clearly, delivery of some fundamental systems being worked upon and rolling these out to local parties has to be a principal priority for the next year.

The other thing I noticed quite strongly yesterday was that the demographics of the party seem to be shifting. Earlier in the year, we ran an offer of free membership to Young Greens and it has resulted in an astounding increase in 1,000 younger members joining the party. You can really feel their energy and enthusiasm coursing through sessions - in a party of 14,500 people their arrival is an enormous shot in the arm for us. Membership has traditionally tended towards an older demographic (I do feel part of a slightly under-represented age range!) and whilst I can imagine challenges lie ahead in marrying the diverse outlook of our membership, I'm confident that this decision will be one of the single most important things the party could have done in the last year.

Green Party autumn conference 2011: Coverage starts here!

As regular readers will no doubt be aware, tomorrow marks the start of the Green Party's autumn conference in Sheffield. I'll be making the long journey from Brighton pretty early tomorrow morning and will be blogging daily from the conference to share some of the highlights.

Considering the stormy summer we've just gone through, it will be interesting to see how our Leader Caroline Lucas MP and Deputy Leader, Adrian Ramsay respond to the transformed political landscape. We'll also be taking the political fight locally to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, with a conference open to the public and explicitly presenting our alternative to the cuts agenda the Liberal Democrats are presiding over in Government.

Keep coming back to the blog regularly for updates, breaking news and fringe reports over the weekend. For those of you attending, I'd love to hear your comments on the conference as it unfolds too!