Green Party membership surges amid climate emergency and Brexit turmoil
Are we witnessing a mini 'Green surge'?
Pictured: Co-leaders cllr Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry AM.
The Green Party of England & Wales now has 50,000 members, the highest figure for the party since 2016.
The surge comes amid growing concerns about the climate crisis and anger over Brexit, the party says.
Labour adopted a position at conference to delay deciding whether to back Remain until after a General Election, while Greta Thunberg’s school strikes for climate action have moved the crisis further up the agenda.
Co-leader Jonathan Bartley said it was ‘truly amazing’: “We are part of a Green wave that is sweeping across Europe, a growing awareness of the climate emergency and the need to take action.”
We've just reached 50,000 members! 🥳
— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) September 25, 2019
Our amazing members are the lifeblood of our party, a massive thank you to every single one of you 🥰 pic.twitter.com/bmSd1Wvdwl
The membership boost represents around 1,500 net new members joining since July this year, according to House of Commons Library analysis at the time.
In May this year, the party experienced their best ever local election results, shortly followed by their best ever European Election result in terms of seats, upping their MEPs from three to seven.
The 50,000 membership milestone comes ahead of the Green Party conference next week in Newport. The party say they will unveil an ‘ambitious program for democratic reform and environmental protection underpinned by the party’s Green New Deal’.
With the 2015 election seeing the party win its highest ever vote share – over a million votes nationally and Caroline Lucas securing re-election in Brighton Pavilion – membership of the Greens surpassed 60,000 in 2015, in what was dubbed a ‘Green surge‘.
Much of the membership boost came amid anger at a ‘media blackout’ of the party despite having popular left-wing policies around a time that Ed Miliband was condemning strike action.
However, membership dropped to around 45,000 in 2016 and 39,000 in 2018, after many members reportedly left to join a now left-led Labour party.
Earlier this month their former leader Natalie Bennett was given a peerage, joining Baroness Jenny Jones in the second chamber upping their parliamentary representation to three.
The party is led by cllr Jonathan Bartley and London Assembly member and London Mayoral Candidate Sian Berry.
The Liberal Democrats have also seen a membership surge in recent months, with the party announcing in September that there are now 120,845 members of the party, many being drawn by a ‘stop Brexit’ message.
Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.
Left Foot Forward doesn't have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.
Donate today
