10 things we took away from Green Party Conference
There weren’t many big headlines from this Autumn Green Party conference, which drew to a languid close in sunny Bournemouth on Monday. But it was a mixed bag in the aftermath of both the General Election and Jeremy Corbyn’s swoop to power in Labour. Here’s ten things I took away from the weekend:
1. Corbyn felt like the ‘elephant in the conference hall’.
While Natalie did mention Corbyn in her speech – to the chagrin of some in party HQ, apparently – there appeared to be little debate in Bournemouth about what the role of the Greens is now that there is a left-wing Labour leader. A pretty big question, to say the least.
Deputy leader Shahrar Ali’s speech focused on the concept of ‘truth in politics’ – a fairly philosophical talk on his core values. And Amelia Womack’s speech focused on the Greens’ role in the General Election, next year’s devolved elections across the UK, and the Greens’ vision for society. But not much on Corbyn – even from members.
2. It was a pretty big event – but didn’t necessarily feel it.
There was no buzz. As one activist put it to me: “The venue wasn’t great; the plenaries felt so sparse and empty – we weren’t quorate for ages on Sunday and lost half an hour of plenary because of it. It all just felt like we were collectively in a major funk.” It didn’t feel like there was a surge going on – sadly, because there isn’t anymore.
Officially around 1100 people were registered to attend, according to a party press officer I spoke to – but there were probably more like seven hundred (max) present, at its peak – and plenty of empty seats in plenaries.
The Bournemouth International Centre was an ambitious venue, in all fairness. I was there just a few days before for the Liberal Democrat conference, and it was absolutely packed in the main hall, with over 1,000 voting and watching Tim Farron’s speech. Green Party conference, in contrast, didn’t have the buzz of Lib Dem conference (bizarrely, given the latter’s trouncing in May). There was plenty of confusion about the Greens’ role in this new political context – unlike the Lib Dems, who can now pitch themselves as the real ‘centre’ party.
3. Caroline Lucas’ call for electoral pacts between the Greens and Labour was the only major attempt to get to grips with Britain’s new political constellation.
With a socialist Labour leader, Caroline embraced the idea that ‘fighting in essentially the same terrain [as Labour] for the same issues and fundamentally the same belief set is madness, when it simply lets the Tories in’. ‘We are stronger when we work together’ – including on individual issues with Conservatives, Lib Dems, UKIP and others. Conference appeared to agree, given the applause.
The discussion continued in Compass’ event on proportional representation on the Sunday. Caroline said that it was a shame that two left wing candidates (from Green & Labour Parties) stood against each other in Brighton Kemptown in May and that this is an example of how the Left needs to discuss whether electoral arrangements are possible to avoid it in future.
4. A new generation of potential Green MPs is coming through.
Lucas’ launch of a new ‘Generation Green’ training scheme for top talent in the young ranks of the party is a bold and wise move, preparing the party for the future. Starting with five of May 7th’s election candidates, it will offer training from Lucas’ office itself.
5. London Mayoral candidate Sian Berry is a potential future leader.
Lucas ended her own speech with a tribute to her. With a seat on the London Assembly next year (she is top of the proportional list), she will be the capital’s most prominent Green – leading the Greens in a city with nearly a fifth of the national party’s ~65,000 members.
There are already soundings being taken as to whether she will stand – and encouragements. It’s unclear if Natalie will stand again, so these are interesting times indeed, a year ahead of next September’s leadership ballot.
6. The Greens are leading the way on the refugee crisis.
It was a stroke of both benevolence and political nous to hold a collection for the refugees in Calais – with dozens of items donated – nearly £2,000 was raised by the end of conference in cash. That’s a lot tents and blankets for the cold winter in northern France. The Greens were the only party to hold such a collection. Not only was it the right thing to do, it solidifies the Greens as the strongest and most consistent party on this issue.
7. Population Matters – the campaign group who oppose, well, poor people having children – still represent a major divide in the party.
The organisation, which has argued Britain should refuse to accept any migrants from Syria and backs an extremist ‘one in, one out’ immigration policy, caused a stir when the group’s opponents attended their fringe and asked rather hostile questions. It led to the three leadership figures to call on members to ‘oppose ideas, not individuals’ (Natalie Bennett).
Yet there are big concerns about the group, with calls for a ban given that they paid for entry to the conference – Shahrar Ali even raised the prospect of ‘cash for access’ in the leadership Q&A. Whatever the case, the whole issue is a continuation of the deep green/eco-socialists split that many thought was diminishing as the former wane in influence.
8. The Greens will back a ‘Yes’ vote in the EU referendum – to the surprise of few.
‘Green Yes’ received the endorsement of conference after an emergency motion was passed. But member support for the campaign may depend in part of the results of Cameron’s ‘re-negotiation’ of terms over the next few months. If social and environmental rights are stripped back, will Green backing take a hit?
9. The need for electoral reform is still on the agenda.
Natalie Bennett made it a focus in her leadership speech, it was the reason for Caroline’s call for electoral pacts, and both my own Electoral Reform Society and Compass held packed-out panel discussions on it, featuring prominent speakers. Meanwhile, conference voted to back the Single Transferable Vote for local elections (the ERS’ preferred system). The issue of fairer votes hasn’t died down in the party – activists are still, understandably, angry.
10. Bournemouth is stunning. More conferences in beautiful sunny beach locations, please. Oh, and Natalie Bennett unwinds by crocheting scarves. Just FYI.
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Addendum: two other things – the Deputy Leaders of the Green Party will now be paid roles, as opposed to voluntary, opening up the positions to those from diverse backgrounds, and taking a lot of the strain off the current leaders who can now focus on their official roles full-time. It’s something that we at Bright Green pushed for strongly so it’s a major step forward for accessibility and equality in the party.
Secondly, there was a serious members-only debate about the future structure of the party – should we become a co-op, or a Limited Liability Company? Should we elect our CEO? It’s a decision that will come back to a future conference – keep your eye out on this site for updates…
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Correction: We originally incorrectly stated that Caroline Lucas argued the Green candidate in Brighton Kemptown should have stood elsewhere, this has been corrected. (William Pinkney-Baird, 6 Oct. 2015)
All this I am supporting Corbyn while remaining a Green sounds very like Cameron and Clegg in the garden at number 10. With Dee Searle who cofounded Red Pepper on GPEx too things are very confusing. Sure to alienate just as Lib Dem/Tory alliance did. Sounds like too many egotists determined to squash independent thinking all trying to take every political opportunity to spread their influence, even if those involved deny it. It is as though they want to be one thing but don’t trust the other thing that is non-identical to think the way they do so have to interfere. Very strange.
Where this page should present brightness regarding green concepts it decends to “tarnished lies” regarding its fraudulent claim of “Population Matters – the campaign group who oppose, well, poor people having children”.
I tweeted the dishonest author asking him to either cite this claim or admit the deception and shamefully the latter has proven the case.
While the party makes no comment on the condition of displaced peoples close to Syria – who suffer rape, who have inadequate policing of forces supported by both genders, who have educators who don’t have support to continue their work who have a patriarchal system that is inadequately contested and who have inadequate provision of food – all talk is of refugees coming INTO the UK AT OUR LATITUDES while NO HONEST parallel information is presented on the effects of all this on sustainability.
You are meant to represent an ecological party. “Bright green”? Please do not selectively play dumb. You present SOME issues in ways that substantiate your claim to brilliance/brightness. Why tarnish yourself with yet clearer deceits?
Here a selection my photos from #gpconf including the refugee collection https://flic.kr/p/yfEUNy
Before some people get too carried away with jeremy corbyn’s election as labour leader, and how the greens should respond to it worth bearing something in mind – labour is still committed to renewing trident! Indeed as things stand jeremy corbyn is the left wing leader of what – policy wise – is still a blairite party.
And for all their great work on social networks unless his supporters organise themselves in the unions and in the constituency parties jeremy corbyn will be a prisoner of the labour right. Also disappointing that we’ve hear nothing positive from jeremy corbyn about PR.
I heard CND had a stall, but couldn’t actually find it. My new CND hoodie was beautiful.
So lucky, Josiah, that organisations cannot sue for libel. Your statement
“Population Matters – the campaign group who oppose, well, poor people having children”
is quite simply untrue, and so long as such misinformation is disseminated a big divide in the party will prevail as meaningful dialogue is impossible.
This coming from someone who published a misogynist article about abortion in his official role as internal communications officer.
Mysogynist? Peas in a pod.
This was my first Green Party conference as a new member, and after years of attending trades union council conferences and TUC events….maybe the Green Party could learn a thing from the unions even if not all Green Party members think it’s important to do joint things with the trades union movement. I suppose with the election of Jeremy Corbyn… maybe it’s caught the party on the hop even though there has been plenty of time to work out what we do. One person in the media from the Greens said we would approach any joint involvement with Labour….issue by issue. At the moment public ownership of the railways is one area we agree with Labour on, and time will tell how progressive Corbyns party will become.
The conference could have been more appealing and maybe the detailed workings of the party, proposed changes as discussed on Saturday afternoon left for another time. But as a new member what do I know and maybe wrong ? But my idea of a party conference is discussing issues that we will have to get across to the general public. How best we keep new members interested and how we promote policies in an effective manner. We may be a small party on the increase but we need to be more positive !
This did worry me that new members don’t feel involved in the governance review. It is bad enough introducing them to the current structures that exist formally and informally. However it’s an important decision that we have put off for decades.
I think over time myself and other new members will understand how things work in the party. I still found the conference interesting even though I could only be there Saturday and Sunday only.
Hi Josiah! I have to disagree with your assessment of ‘there was no buzz’ (point 2 in this article). The conference may have been attended by a smaller number of activists than expected, but the fringe meetings that I attended were full and the general feeling was far from a ‘collective funk’. Instead, I felt that this was the first political gathering (in and out of the Green Party) that I have ever attended, where the general discouragement that characterises us was lifted, and people were focusing more on how to make a new, positive politics possible, rather than on how we are all swamped by the neoliberal consensus. Again and again, I was struck by everyone’s enthusiasm for joining forces with other progressive movements (be it the wider climate change, Bernie Sanders in the US, or Jeremy Corbyn), and the fact that everyone could see revolution was possible in our lifetime. A great example of this was the ‘Challenging the political consensus through alternative media’ where speakers laid out how new forms of media (mainly progressive online blogs, but also old veterans like the Morning Star) had helped made inroads into the collective consciousness of voters, leading to such great surges like that underpinning the Scottish referendum.
I didn’t sense any significant confusion about the Green Party’s role or any unwillingness to tackle the Corbyn issue. Rather I sensed a focus on getting more organised, both at a local and national level. The debates on the governance reforms were fantastic, I thought, with many very constructive suggestions, and bodes well for a much better organised GP in future. There was also much advice and activity around helping local parties to develop, which was extremely useful for me as I try to help my local party to cope with a huge influx of new members. I agree that the conference venue was a great disappointment compared with the excellent Liverpool venue at the Spring Conference. The seating in the main hall, and the acoustics, were just terrible! I was surprised that there were not more members present, but I think we really need to sort out the accommodation issue for conferences, as Bournemouth is an expensive place to stay, and there’s not enough cheap hostel places there.
agree on accommodation, seating, and acoustics. add the bus replacement service to the mix.
During Conference Weekend Red Pepper took an initiative to set up a ‘Corbyn Network’ extending beyond the Labour Party. I think it is unfortunate that it uses Corbyn’s name rather than one referring to the movement as a whole and there are questions about how this will relate to the People’s Assembly. However many activists have signed up. I have also done so as an individual with the caveat that as an ecosocialist I still see myself remaining a member of the Green Party.
This is the text of their appeal:
As campaigners, grassroots activists, trade unionists and members of social movements, we believe the overwhelming election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader presents a great opportunity. Jeremy has campaigned tirelessly over decades for social justice, and we share his vision for rebuilding democracy, respect and community. This election means we can start building a better country and a better world.
Some of us are members of the Labour Party and others not. Jeremy’s victory was made possible by people inside and outside the Labour Party who share a common hope in the future. There is an alternative. Things can get better.
But there is a steep road ahead, during which the government and its allies will attempt to spread fear and division. Parts of the media will attack him because they do not like his agenda of hope and participation. Many MPs will try to limit and constrain the process of giving power back to the people. This will be resisted.
As Jeremy himself has said, rebuilding this country cannot depend on one person. It demands that all of us take our share of responsibility. We commit ourselves to supporting this attempt to rebuild democracy in Britain.
We call on like-minded people to join us, creating a democratic and diverse network through action across the country – we will support each other’s campaigns at a local level as well as support the development of progressive changes at a parliamentary and legislative level.
Jeremy Corbyn provides space to once more allow people to make their voices heard. We must take it.
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/corbynnetwork/
Nice motion! I would have voted for it! It really is time for a Constitutional Convention, with electoral reform top of the agenda on that. Even a GP/Labour alliance of some kind won’t win an electoral breakthrough unless there is PR. Our parliamentary denmocracy is utterly broken, so it’s in Labour’s self-interest to work co-operatively with us Greens on PR. I’m already working amiably with local Labour people in Eastbourne and together we’ve set up the Eastbourne People’s Assembly, which bodes well for some sort of electoral alliance in future local, and possibly, general election campaigns there. I gather that Corbyn spoke up for a Constitutional Convention in his speech yesterday.
No platforming Population Matters is not the same as banning them. We wouldn’t give a platform to Katie Hopkins – Population Matters’ politics is completely incompatible with those of the Green Party and the wider green movement.
well said stan. we should have absolutely nothing to do with that revolting reactionary organisation.
There were a few glimpses of the Corbyn elephant during the Conference. This Emergency Motion was put forward by Green Left but unfortunately never reached due to the pressure of other business.
EMERGENCY MOTION
Preamble
The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party has struck a blow at the prevailing neo-liberal orthodoxy. Whilst welcoming this we call for a fundamental change in the political system through a Constitutional Convention and instruct GPEX to take a lead in encouraging other progressive parties to achieve this.
Motion:
Conference:
1. Congratulates Jeremy Corbyn on his election as leader of the Labour Party.
2. Welcomes the support this represents for many of the progressive policies of the Green Party.
3. Looks for a more constructive relationship with the Labour Party in future.
4. Calls on GPEX to approach other progressive parties to agree on a Constitutional Convention, which will examine and agree proposals for change at local, regional and national levels of government involving all sectors of society.