Why isn’t the Green Party breaking through?

As we curl up at home on these grim winter nights, a highlight has been my creeping addiction to Borgen. This new Danish political drama focuses upon the female leader of a minor party, who suddenly finds herself thrust into leading a coalition government as Prime Minister. There is a distinct similarity to the journey taken by the Green Party in the last couple of years. It hasn’t hurt to see one of the key partners of this coalition is a politically savvy and successful Green leader at the cabinet table, reminding us once more how more seriously our party is seen within other European electorates.

It’s an intoxicating mix, yet as the political and economic environment deteriorates seriously in the UK and all three major parties come out in favour of a cuts agenda that patently isn’t working, why isn’t the Green Party rapidly climbing up the opinion polls in line with the public mood?

Talk to many Green Party members and a rosier picture emerges. These last two years have yielded crucial breakthrough moments for our party. After thirty plus years, we finally have our first Member of Parliament in party leader Caroline Lucas. We now run our first local authority in Brighton and Hove, protecting the elderly, vulnerable and children. A modest amount of headlines followed these amazing successes, but not a sufficient amount to have shifted perceptions of the party by the national media and public.

In the immediate aftermath of these victories, the party has rightly consolidated. Our priority has been to ensure that constituents are represented effectively by their MP and manifesto pledges are met by the local authority. The aggressive attacks mounting on the party in Brighton and Hove is a testament to the hard work and commitment of the local party in the city and the disquiet our opponents are experiencing at our steady progress.

But where is the strategy to move forward nationally? Across the country, hundreds of local parties are tirelessly working towards the next victory, yet there is a faint impression that we are resting on our laurels when we should be taking the fight to the coalition and Labour. Our recent achievements shouldn’t be the high point of our success - they should be a launching pad for our next big leap forward. We need to be hungry for actual power – as the state’s provision for the most vulnerable is stripped away, exacerbating inequalities, we need to be there promoting alternatives, not just complaining at how unfair it all is. But where is the next Brighton Pavilion? The local party in Norwich is the only place with an outside chance of success.

Caroline Lucas has rapidly grown into a towering public figure. She is respected across the political spectrum to speak truth to power and is outshining the majority of national politicians. But where is the next Caroline Lucas? I fear that we are not investing sufficiently in building capacity amongst our activist base to nurture the next generation of politicians. As party leader, Caroline has an obligation to ensure the party functions to create such an enabling environment. Understandably, there are only so many hours in the day for her to act as party leader, parliamentarian and constituency MP, as well as retain some work / life balance. Heaping this amount of responsibility onto one set of shoulders is dangerous, but the party’s structural deficiencies aren’t helping here.

The role of Party Spokespeople is a case in point. The vast majority of green party members aren’t even aware they exist, let alone who they are. I challenge you to look over our website. The only people showcased are our national politicians: MP, MEPs and GLA members. It’s exceptionally difficult to ascertain who these spokespeople are – they aren’t elected by the party membership and they have no public duties that we can measure their performance against. The policy areas they cover aren’t consistent with the UK Government’s Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet portfolios, so we are unable to allow them to build ongoing public profiles or make it easier for the media to ask them for comment on issues of public concern. This model is undemocratic and unaccountable in a party that professes to be stronger than others on participation, democracy and fairness. Where underperformance exists, we have no mechanisms to monitor and evaluate this and no recourse to remove people who damage the party’s reputation. We wonder why we are sometimes seen as unresponsive to the big issues confronting the public, without looking at how we are presenting ourselves at a most basic level to them.

We need to bring these individuals out into the public eye. They should be elected to these positions by ordinary members and held account for their performance. These are ideal positions for us to build a cadre of experienced, professional politicians that become trusted figures for the public, doubly important whilst we are kept out of national elected office.

Until we invest in the next generation of Green political leaders, all eyes will remain on Brighton and Hove, placing our colleagues there under enormous scrutiny and pressure and without acknowledging the vast network of capable Green political figures up and down the country. Without opening up the party to a new generation of voices, the opportunities available to the politicians of Borgen remain the stuff of television drama.

The Big Green Leap Forward: Welcoming submissions from guest writers

If the last few months of campaigning amongst the membership have taught me anything, it is that there are more amazing and talented people in the Green Party than ever before. It really does feel that with the substantial leap in members over the last couple of years, a renewed sense of purpose and urgency has transformed the party’s outlook.

As regular readers know, one of the original aims for this blog was to provide space to talk about how we can construct a modern Green Party, one that could be capable of speaking to the whole electorate. I hope in some ways it has been successful in putting issues on the agenda and reflecting an optimistic vision in how we can broaden public interest in our campaigning. With a substantial (and heartening) expansion in readership since it began, there is an obvious appetite for this type of analysis.

Would you be interested in writing a piece for the blog over the next few weeks? I’m looking for members of the Green Party, or critical friends, who want to put forward ideas for how we can make the next leap forward in public profile and membership numbers. How can we become a mass membership party and yet still retain our core values of participation and inclusion? Where should our limited resources be placed to make most impact? How do we nurture the next generation of Green leaders?

If you’re interested in submitting an article for the blog, please drop me a line (stephen_a_wood@yahoo.co.uk) to discuss your ideas for a post and I’ll be happy to work with you to bring your ideas to a wider audience.

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?

The UK Greens year in review: How did we measure up?

In the run up next month's Green Party national conference, I thought it would be useful to take a look at the key issues that the party has wrestled with over the last twelve months, as well as looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.

Whilst there have been some notable obvious successes to our name, most prominently the formation of the first ever Green Council in Brighton and Hove, I am keen to hear from regular readers with their thoughts on the advances we have made in less publicised parts of the country, as well as views on the problems we have to face up to in 2011-2012. More than ever, we need to having a constructive yet critical look in the mirror at our performance.

How do people feel the Green Party Executive (GPEX) has functioned over the last year? Do people feel represented by the Green Party Regional Council (GPRC)? Has the election of Caroline Lucas to Parliament been exploited sufficiently to broaden our appeal nationally? Are our policy positions being communicated robustly enough to the media? What single improvement to the Green Party do you think could substantially improve our effectiveness overall? Do we have good answers to the big questions facing the country?

For those that are not members of the Green Party, I'd also be interested to know what your current view of the party is. Do you have any ideas about things we should be doing to become more relevant to a broader cross-section of voters?

I am taking a short summer break for a week to recharge my batteries, but I hope you'll start a debate in the comments section below or contact me privately to give me your views at (stephen_a_wood@yahoo.co.uk). On my return, I'll try and pull together views into a report card! I'm eager to enter the conference season with a strong sense of where we need to be putting our energies into in order to improve and make the most of our strengths. For me the crucial issue remains the need to bring inequality reduction and increasing diversity more firmly into the centre of our policy-making and partnerships. What is your big idea?

Weathering UK political instability: Greens VS Lib Dems

Coalition politics have brought a pleasingly unpredictable edge to UK politics in the last year or so. For all the uncertainty political parties are negotiating, the new political playing-field is forcing all of us to re-examine our core values. We are having to respond to a rapidly evolving public mood and this means a useful questioning of political assumptions across a wide range of areas where bland consensus has reigned in recent years. None of the main parties are particularly managing this awkward transition well. This includes the Green Party too.

In spite of what appears to be widespread disapproval of the cuts agenda championed by the Coalition Government, nobody has yet been able to explain convincingly why the Conservative vote remains so solid, especially after an aggressively radical and uneven first year of office. Yet they flatline below the threshold at which they could try and rule alone. At most, David Cameron can probably retain the grudging respect of the public - but in my view, they have already concluded that they don't particularly like him.

The inability of Ed Miliband to set the electorate alight and draw a line under the excesses of the New Labour period means that he has regained only those voters now horrified with a Conservative-led government. Mainstream public opinion remains deaf to Labour, in spite a record in office which beyond the obvious failures around bank regulation, rising inequalities and Iraq, had some merits. In Miliband, I'm sensing a desperate need to place himself carefully in the centre ground on issues which is lending him an air of a Westminster politician, compared to the seemingly instinctual magpie-like political positioning of Blair.

Nick Clegg's reputation has nose-dived at twice the speed of his party's poll ratings. The compromises of power damage him more than any other because of how he played to the public yearning for a better, cleaner politics during the last election. Regardless of how he paints his modest successes, such as removing the worst of the NHS reform programme, his early behaviour in office couldn't conceal his obvious pleasure at being in power. His parliamentary colleagues (and to a much lesser extent, activist base) remain tarred with the same brush. Of all the three main parties, however, my gut tells me that they have the potential to drag their support back to 2010 levels. By the end of this term of office, he will have enough examples of how he curbed Tory excesses to earn some grudging recognition and the most visceral anger will have died down.

But where does this political instability leave the Green Party? I'll be honest - in spite of the historic victory of electing Caroline Lucas to Parliament and the establishment of a minority Green Council, we should be doing substantially better. Look at the statistics - we made only modest gains nationally and only substantially where we already had a record of success. Recently, I argued that widespread capacity-building at local authority level should be our prime focus now before investing heavily in another Parliamentary seat - and I'm more sure than ever that we should stay this course and invest widely in our smaller local parties.

From the perspective of the two main parties, the Lib Dems don't pose a threat right now. Here in Brighton, they are such a spent force that we don't consider them in our calculations that often. Nationally, we'd be wrong to dismiss them or the lessons their progress has for us. Two key elements of their history are worth remembering:

1. This week's impressive Green by-election victory in Rochford District Council has caught many commentator's eye due to the unseating of a substantial Conservative majority. The location of the seat has raised eyebrows in Green circles, but this success mirrors the strategy played by the Lib Dems over the last twenty years. This involves reflecting very clear national values and messages, but then explicitly targeting individual seats through engagement in solid local community activism. Our national profile will get us a hearing, but our commitment to local issues will be what converts hearts and minds.

2. The other lesson Lib Dems can teach us is that by exercising real power, we can now be seen to be achieving concretely on our policy aims and having a discernable effect on communities. Without doubt, this is a double-edged sword and those constituencies in this position have their work cut out in balancing new responsibilities with maintaining a growing local party, especially where electoral victory depletes the number of activists. The pressure is on for Brighton & Hove Council particularly to deliver on both counts and I'll be reporting back on our progress over the coming weeks.

The press and other parties may have written of the Liberal Democrats, but we cannot. We are fighting both them and Labour for centre-left voters, yet they have a party machine explicitly built around targeted community activism. We may have the advantage of not yet being tainted by proximity to power, but their organisation has a twenty year head start in the battle to convince voters that we truly speak for their villages, towns and cities.

Is twinning the key to success for the Green movement?

Unsurprisingly, the big story for the Greens since the local elections has been the success achieved in Brighton & Hove, where we added a further ten councillors to our local party and took control of the local Council. Whilst this historic victory gives us a fantastic moment to savour, it has masked a deeper question we need to contemplate.

In spite of the unpopularity of each of the three main political parties, the Green Party only succeeded in increasing our number of councillors from 116 to 130. Taking into account the Brighton & Hove gains, this means in reality we just picked up four additional seats, although I appreciate the various losses and gains in different constituencies complicate the picture slightly. Nonetheless, with the higher profile of the party as a result of Caroline Lucas's election as our first MP and the consequent jump in membership and activists this resulted in, it does feel as we should have enjoyed a more significant upsurge in our fortunes.

A national strategic decision has been made in the last couple of years to focus our scant time and money in those seats where we are strongest and most likely to elect a Member of Parliament. Living in the parliamentary seat where this has reaped the biggest dividend, I'm not going to argue too strongly against that approach! I do think however, especially in light of the AV referendum failure, that we must now re-adjust our strategies in light of the real difficulties of obtaining further First Past The Post successes.

For that reason, I would argue that we now need to invest our energies in the short to medium term objective of increasing council representation. Where we do so, we soften the ground for the larger battles of general and European elections, consequently making success there more likely. The Local Party Support role on GPEX has been responsible for putting together the fantastically useful "Party in a Box" kits to assist activists in launching local parties in those areas where we have no active party structure. But I'm convinced we need to go further.

I would like to see a commitment from those established local parties to join a mentorship network across the Green Party that would share best practice and ideas from around the country. Local parties that volunteered to participate could be paired together. Of these, those parties fortunate enough to have elected at least one local councillor would become paired with another that has yet to do so. This would enable a larger spread of local parties to take part whilst not overwhelming bigger parties with demands for their assistance. The twinning relationship can be forged easily and cheaply: linking similar individuals with particular roles (Chair, Membership, Secretary, External Communications) and using email and video conferencing to have regular discussions around strategy, systems, processes and organisation. Visits can be arranged in person to provide bodies on the ground for canvassing and around elections time too.

Together, the partnership could focus upon targeting one council ward in the constituency over a period of two or three years. Where done well, the collaboration would spark creativity and enthusiasm on both sides at what can be achieved and also contribute to longer term investment in capacity building. From my experience, those constituencies where candidates achieve office for the first time will be transformed by the experience and will forge real credibility amongst their communities.

This work can be done with very little financial cost to either local party, but will gift the party nationally with a sense of solidarity, purpose and achievement. In providing concrete support, bigger parties can repay some of the confidence placed in them by the Green Party as a whole. Most importantly, at a time when the Green Party is expanding in size and influence, this would serve to strengthen and build relationships between our activists in communities spanning the country and ensure that we never write off any part of the UK as being out of bounds to a Green challenge!