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Join the politics of the future! Updated for 2026

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This has been a momentous year! A year in which the Green Party has taken its place at the forefront of UK politics. A year in which young people in particular have embraced our message of hope and real change.

A year in which nearly 300,000 people joined together to help ensure we took our place in the national leadership debates. A year in which we are matching, and often exceeding, the Lib Dems, a party of government, in national polls.

And a year in which we have become the third largest political party in England and Wales! In the space of 12 months we have grown from 13,000 members to 55,000. Our membership has quadrupled!   

And one thing that the green surge means is that more than 90% of you will have the chance to vote Green on the 7th of May. For some that means the first ever chance to vote Green. 

Your vote can change the face of Britain!

In just nine weeks’ time, you will have in your hands something miraculous … the possibility of a peaceful political revolution. Your vote can change the face of Britain. It can end the failed austerity experiment, end the spiteful blaming of the poor, the sick, the vulnerable for the mistakes of the wealthy.

This election can be a turning point in history. The moment where we can deliver a better Britain, a Britain which works for all its people … A Britain which cares. 

Vote for what you believe in, vote for the policies of hope not fear, vote for policies that work for the common good not just the few, and Britain could be a very different country on the 8th of May. It is time for Green Politics – the politics of the future – that delivers:

  • a living wage: jobs that workers can build a life on, with support for those who need it;
  • public services run for the good of all – our railways run not for shareholders but for passengers, our NHS not handed over to profiteers but kept in public hands;
  • social housing, council housing, to meet our housing needs;
  • the means for everyone to live within the limits of our one planet – because it’s the only one we’ve got.


A society fit for people and our communities

No one should be living in fear of being unable to put food on the table. No one should be forced into debt just for trying to get an education.

No one should be worrying about a fracking drill burrowing into the heart of their community.  No one should fear being left destitute by Iain Duncan Smith’s punitive benefit sanctions. 

The politics of the future is not a politics of transaction, that discredited politics which offers selected individuals and groups a bribe of short-term, unsustainable personal advantage.

History tells us that is now the old politics, the tired politics, the failed politics. The Green Party is offering instead a society working for all of us; for the many, not just the few; a society in which those who can contribute do so, and no one in need goes without.

It asks voters to make a choice that will deliver a society fit for themselves, their communities, and their children.

#GreenSurge

That’s why the Green surge is much more than just a hash tag – although a highly successful hash tag it has been – the green surge is much more than just membership numbers. That’s why people are becoming engaged with the Green Party. 

I have seen the Green surge on the ground, around the country, from a village hall in Ilkley, Yorkshire, to an enormous, snaking queue of hundreds at Exeter University, to a Valentine’s Eve Friday night crowd at the London School of Economics. 

And of course we saw it last May with the election of Molly Scott Cato as the first Green member of the European Parliament in the South West – and boy, hasn’t she delivered for her voters! 

The Green surge is the result of your hard work as Greens. It’s thanks to you in this hall, and to all of the Green Party members and supporters up and down the country – to your commitment, your belief, your dedication and your hard work – that we approach the General Election as a central player in UK politics. 

And of course, it isn’t just Green Party. Up and down the country, campaigns demanding a new politics are getting stronger, bigger, more effective. There’s People’s Assemblies, Occupy Democracy, the anti-fracking movement and the fossil fuel divestment campaigns: the tide is growing, the demand for change is louder and clearer.

We’re fighting back

At last, the people are fighting back! Five years ago we made a huge breakthrough with the election of Caroline Lucas as the first Green MP, and she’s given Brighton a spectacularly good local voice and a national impact far beyond any other MP. Caroline has led the debate on issues from railway ownership to statutory Personal and Social Education.

She’s led the debate on parliamentary transparency and she has put her freedom on the line to oppose fracking. Because Caroline shows what voting Green delivers: passion, sensitivity and courage. 

On May 8, just imagine, a strong green group of MPs at Westminster – able to build on and expand Caroline’s work. A group which would never, ever support a Conservative Government. A strong group of Green MPs – in a parliament where they could have a huge say, a huge impact – that is a real opportunity to start to deliver a new kind of politics.

We know that the way things are in Britain is not sustainable. Continuing as we are is not an option. Since 2007, food prices have risen 22% but wages have fallen 7%. Almost seven hundred thousand people are listed as ‘in work’, despite having no guaranteed hours week-to-week.

It’s time to end the scourge of zero hours contracts. Almost half the new jobs created since 2010 are for the self-employed, yet nearly 80% of self-employed workers are living in poverty. I applaud the growing number of individuals who contribute to, who volunteer in, who run, food banks.

But individual charity is no substitute for collective justice. This the outcome of the years of Blair, of Brown, of the Cameron / Clegg Coalition and austerity Britain – this is the record of George Osborne’s ‘long term economic plan’.

The Green Party are calling time on the politics of low wages, job insecurity and fearing the food bank. We are calling time on privatisation – the sell-off and the handing over – of public assets into private hands.

We must treasure the natural world – not trash it!

We are calling time on the trashing of our natural world – the world on which everything, depends. Our economy, our lives, our future depend on society, which in turn depends on the Earth and its resources.

That puts a huge weight, a huge responsibility on our shoulders – a responsibility we have to meet in the next few years. We know now the damage we are doing to the Earth, as we didn’t know in the past. We have to be up to the task.

The whole ideology of Thatcher and her successors, be it Blair, Brown or Cameron, has failed. Change has to come. The market is short-sighted and short-term. It is blind. It is senseless. It works for the 1%, it fails the rest of us. All in it together? I don’t think so.

The current model of economics and society has served only those with power and wealth. In austerity Britain, the super rich grabs more than anywhere else in Europe. We must be first and foremost citizens, paying fairly to common funds to look after the poor, the weak, the old and the sick. 

Everybody contributes what they can and everybody benefits from that. This is what the politics of the future will look like, what the Green Party will deliver. The old politics, the failed politics of letting the market rule has to end.

Save our NHS! Save our social care!

There’s nowhere that’s more obvious than in our NHS. The insidious but rapid infiltration of the profit motive into our health service, the dreadful, senseless PFI schemes that have deliver despair and threaten bankruptcy, must be reversed.

The market costs us big time. In 2010 the Health Select Committee reckoned it consumed 9% of total NHS costs – well over £10bn a year. As Caroline has already said – we will repeal the Health and Social Care Act, which is damaging and threatening the health service.

And we will go further – we will replace it with an NHS Reinstatement Bill that removes the market mechanism from our NHS. But of course there is another side to care. Free healthcare is the very cornerstone of our NHS. Whether you are rich or poor you have the right to the best that is available.

That’s something the Green Party will restore – and extend. For that same principle should apply to social care – the support and services that you need to lead a fulfilling life should be available when you need it, free at the point of use. 

We believe that to be a decent, humane, caring society, social care must be free. We believe those who have the most should contribute to help pay for social care. We need a range of new taxes aimed at making Britain a more equal society.

We would introduce a new wealth tax, rigorously clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion and introduce a financial transaction tax – a Robin Hood Tax, and we are not ashamed to say that those on incomes above £100,000 should pay more income tax.

Providing Free Social Care for the Over 65’s means security and freedom from fear, suffering and loneliness for many, and it means 200,000 new jobs and training places. 

We will consult experts, users, and care workers on its exact design – but our manifesto will include this as a core pledge: social care is not a privilege, it is a right! 

Register to vote – now!

We know that the younger generation – many of whom are supporting the Green Party – have it tough. But we acknowledge, we stress, that isn’t the fault of their elders. 

In a Britain of solidarity, in a Britain of community, in a Britain of care, we all need to look out for each other. Of course – and I cannot stress this enough – we can only do this if you, the people of the UK have your say on May the 7th.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of each and every person who can vote registering to do so and making their voice heard. The deadline is April 20th, but please don’t wait – register today. Only then can you deliver the politics of the future, help us deliver for the Common Good.

There are people who want to see business-as-usual politics continue. People who are happy with politicians who learnt nothing from the global economic crash. People who’ve quietly forgotten the scandal of MPs expenses. Who are resigned to the failed austerity experiment, to low wages and to the swift demise of public services.

Those people will probably vote for the parties of yesterday. To counteract them, you need to use your vote. At this election, if we all vote Green, we can change Britain. Together we can create the society we all deserve a society that cares, a society that works for all of us. 

Vote for the party that cares. Vote for the common good. Vote for the politics of the future. Vote Green.   

 

 

Natalie Bennett is the leader of the Green Party of England & Wales.

This speech was delivered to the Green Party’s spring conference on Friday 6th March 2015. See original here.

 

 

 




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A Yes vote in Scotland could finish Trident Updated for 2026

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Much has been made, and quite rightly, about the financial uncertainties for the Scots attached to an independence vote.

But if there is a Yes vote the financial pressures on the UK’s nuclear weapons programme will also bite hard, plunging its future into uncertainty.

Experience so far in the referendum campaign amply demonstrates the inability of the collective Westminster-Whitehall (WW) bubble to accurately assess risk, probability and impact.

As I outlined in a previous post for Open Democracy, Trident will become the subject of negotiation along with other core issues such as currency, the handling of debt and membership of the EU and NATO.

But the bases at Faslane and Coulport will need to move, and within a similar timescale to the introduction of the new submarines.

Even assuming that the political obstacles can be overcome, capital spend on the move will hit at the same point in the cycle as the construction of the submarines, sending costs spiraling.

Trident’s medium term home? Georgia, USA

With any move south of the border the renewal programme would take up well over half the current MoD’s equipment spend throughout the 2020s (it is already set to eat up a third of that budget over this period).

But this is only one half of the double-whammy. The other is that this would happen just when public spending would need to reduce by around 8% as a result of the tax-take from Scotland being removed.

For most government departments, whose spend is relative to the population they serve, this would not be such a big deal beyond the bureaucratic challenge of institutional change.

But the Ministry of Defence will retain just about the same commitments as they have today, and cuts they would have to bear would follow on from major cuts experienced over the last five years.

There is a cost to the rest of the defence establishment beyond which even die-hard pro-nuclear advocates would not tread. Without Faslane, the UK’s only alternative would be to base its Trident submarines at the US’s Kings Bay Trident port on Georgia’s Atlantic coast.

The military community discussing this possibility at present refer to it as a temporary measure, but the political and budgetary costs may force them to consider it a permanent proposition.

But what sort of symbol would that send about Britain’s dependency upon the United States and its capability? It would make a mockery of the claim that they system is operationally independent.

For any member of the public or rational defence planner in London, Scottish independence would surely mean a radical reassessment of Trident.

A new impetus towards global nuclear disarmament?

Any such reassessment, if it leads to disarmament, could be a big shot in the arm for the essential but deeply-troubled global non-proliferation regime upon which we all depend for stability and survival. So far 2014 has been a disastrous year.

Things looked promising in the heady days of 2010, when the US and Russia signed their new START treaty further limiting the numbers of warheads, missiles and bombers, and the NPT Review Conference agreed a comprehensive action plan to pursue disarmament and non-proliferation.

But the rot had already set into any optimism for further progress years before President Viktor Yanukovych was chased out of Kiev at the beginning of this year.

With Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the civil war in eastern Ukraine (now becalmed if not quite over under a peace process), and other major disagreements over missile defence, NATO membership and influence across eastern Europe and the Middle East, the nuclear weapon states are showing no prospects of living up to the cautious agenda they signed up to in 2010.

This leaves next year’s NPT Review Conference and the broader non-proliferation regime in limbo.

Iran hanging in the balance

It also adds a wild card to negotiations with Iran that reopen this Thursday, the same day as the referendum vote.

Just as the Americans and Europeans were hopeful of breakthrough on Iran’s nuclear programme before the deadline in November (though there are still big differences between the negotiating positions), the fragile sanctions coalition could be breaking apart before our eyes.

The Russians are already talking about major deals with Iran that the Americans consider bust the sanctions. If they sense alternatives opening up, it seems highly unlikely that hardliners in Tehran will countenance Rouhani agreeing to tight constraints on the programme. This one silver lining in the dark and foreboding international nuclear proliferation skies hangs in the balance.

If an independent Scotland were to force a rethink on Trident renewal it would be crucial for both governments to see how their choices could best influence this broader context.

If there is a possibility of an established nuclear weapon state taking its arsenal off patrol this must be used to maximum leverage within the broader international diplomatic game to win real moves in a positive direction by other states. This will be an important opportunity for leadership.

In the event of a No

But what of the impact of the only other likely alternative, a close no vote? In this circumstance we are likely to see devolution of many more powers not only in Scotland, but also other parts of the union.

The general assumption within the WW bubble will be that this will not directly affect the trappings of statehood, in particular foreign policy and defence and thereby the nuclear deterrent. There are a number of distinct dangers to this attitude that could reflect more complacency piled on the previous.

When it reported back in July, the Trident Commission, co-chaired by Malcolm Rifkind, Des Browne and Menzies Campbell, pointed to the pressing need for Britain to reconsider its strategy and more effectively lead on achieving multilateral disarmament measures.

There is no room for business as usual whilst strategic international relations deteriorate and the non-proliferation regime faces severe challenges of confidence.

And there is no solution to the contradiction between renewing Trident like-for-like and positively contributing to a stronger non-proliferation regime.

Caution advised – is this a smart way to spend £30 billion?

But back at home our political leaders would be well-advised to be cautious in making their assumptions about London retaining unambiguous control over the existing nuclear weapon infrastructure.

After the referendum it is now clear the nature of the constitutional settlement will change, and could remain fluid and uncertain for some time to come. Demands for change can only grow throughout the union. London may in future struggle to hold the line and prevent further slide towards a break-up of the union as devolution develops.

A close no vote could in the long run simply spell a stay of execution, unless the government more effectively tackles the centrifugal forces driving the home nations apart.

This will need them to go beyond the devolution of certain powers, and radically change the relationship between the WW bubble and the people of Britain.

And Trident has already shown itself to be a significant part of that legitimacy deficit. It is not only the Scots who are sceptical about spending £30bn over the next two decades on the renewal of our nuclear weapons.

If they succeed in convincing the Scots to stay in for now, those interested in saving the union in the longer run may yet come to see Trident and its bases in Scotland as an important political liability that we can ill afford to keep.

 

 

Paul Ingram has been the Executive Director for the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) since 2007. BASIC works in the US, UK, Europe and the Middle East to promote global nuclear disarmament and a transformation in strategic relationships using a dialogue approach.

He was also until recently a talk show host on state Iranian TV promoting alternative perspectives on strategic matters, and taught British senior civil servants leadership skills.

Previously Paul was a Green Party councillor in Oxford and co-Leader of Oxford City Council (2000-2002) and a member of the Stop the War Coalition Steering Group (2002-2006).

This article is based on one originally published by Open Democracy with edits by or agreed with the author. It is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 licence.

Creative Commons License

 

 




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