The “Green Surge” is set to continue, with the London Green Party’s membership doubling in the past year in line with the national party’s rise. The co-chairs of the London Green Party call the increase in membership a “landmark for the London party”, as they look to build upon impressive results in the May 2014 local and European elections.
The recent “Green Surge” has received a great deal of publicity, as more people turn to the Green Party looking for and finding “a fresh and positive message”. Image fromLondon Green Party facebook page.
Membership of the London branch of the Green Party has doubled in the past year and now soared past the 5000 mark. This growth in membership reflects a surge in Green support across the country which has seen national membership rise to over 27,000 with the party also consistently polling neck-and-neck, or increasingly above, the Liberal Democrats in the polls.
The public’s growing appetite for Green policies will be met at the ballot box on 7 May 2015 when every voter in London will have the chance to vote Green. Not only is support for the party spreading across the capital but voters in Holborn and St. Pancras will also have the opportunity to vote for the party’s leader and long-time Camden resident and local campaigner Natalie Bennett. Other high profile Green candidates including the party’s deputy leaders Amelia Womack (Camberwell and Peckham) and Shahrar Ali (Brent Central) are also standing in their local London seats.
The party will be seeking to build on their strong electoral performance in the May 2014 local and European elections when they doubled their number of councillors in the city and successfully re-elected their MEP Jean Lambert to the European Parliament. At that election, Greens finished second only to Labour in four of London’s boroughs – Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Lambeth – leaving them in a strong position to challenge sitting MPs at the polls next spring.
London Green Party Co-Chair and candidate for Lewisham West and Penge Tom Chance said:
“This is a landmark for the London party. It’s a clear sign that people are becoming increasingly tired and disillusioned by the politics of business-as-usual and are looking for a new, credible, distinctive voice. Whether it’s on fixing our broken housing market to provide more affordable homes for Londoners, reining-in the huge pay inequalities that divide our city, or protecting our health and green spaces from the threat of air pollution and climate change – voters are finding a fresh and positive messages in the Greens and they seem to like what they hear.”
Co-Chair of the London Green Party Caroline Allen said:
“The fantastic thing about our rise in membership is that it shows what huge appetite there is out in London for getting involved in politics and building a better society and future for this great city. Every new member that joins us is helping to spread the message even further, encouraging new supporters to come on-board. That’s an incredibly exciting feeling to be a part of and we want to say a big thank you to all the volunteers and party members that are working to bring the Green Surge to London.”