In the run-up to every election in my Middle England market town, a light drizzle of campaign posters appears in windows. Mostly Labour, or “the Red Team”, as my youngest daughter calls them. Occasionally some for the “Blue Team”. And just one near neighbour who recycles the same “Vote Green” A4 poster, taping it each time to their ground floor windowpane.
For years theirs was a lone voice. But this year, while the same Green sign reappeared as expected, several other houses followed—part of a wave of support that caused membership of the Green Party of England and Wales to explode from 68,000 to more than 200,000 after Zack Polanski became leader. Following victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection, the Greens polled as the most popular party nationally among all age groups under 50. “What has the Green Team done to get all this attention?” asked my daughter, bemused at the signs popping up all around town.
Last Thursday’s local elections put the Green Team in the big league. It signed 441 new councillors, taking it to a total of more than 1,000. It took full control of councils for the first time, in Norwich, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Hastings. Zoë Garbett became the first Green mayor, elected in Hackney. Lewisham council, held by Labour for 55 years, fell to the Greens. But is this simply a transfer of leftist voters from Corbynite red to green, or evidence of broader environmental concern finally coming through in the voting booths?
According to a YouGov poll just a month before the election, the proportion of “Green considerers” saying the party’s stance on climate change is what most attracts them to the party had fallen from 49 per cent to 22 per cent in the last year. Policies and values not related to the environment were the main reason to vote Green for 38 per cent of those considering the party.
Climate Outreach, an NGO focused on how the public engage with climate change as an issue, has questioned if the “eco” is missing from the Greens’ new eco-populist approach. Analysing the language used in Green Party leaflets since Polanski’s first conference speech as leader, across over 10,000 words and 40 pages, it found only one mention of “climate change”, zero mentions of “net zero”, just seven mentions of the “environment” and one of “nature”. Local environmental issues—which, of course, are what local elections are all about—fared slightly better: water companies (52 mentions), bus services (19) and local green spaces (18). The analysis concluded positively: “Connecting climate and nature to people’s lives, communities and priorities is… leaning into what they know people want to hear about.”
The Guardian’s Peter Walker warned in March that the influx of new members risks “a de facto takeover” of the party by “Corbyn-ish” ideas. Yet the Green Party’s statement of core values—decided in autumn 2022—expresses deep green concerns, and identify it as “a party of social and environmental justice, which supports a radical transformation of society for the benefit of all, and for the planet as a whole.”
“We understand that the threats to economic, social and environmental wellbeing are part of the same problem, and recognise that solving one of these crises cannot be achieved without solving the others; Humankind depends on the diversity of the natural world for its existence,” it says.
As a party official told Walker, changing Green policy would take time: “It isn’t a single motion, it’s an 18-month process.” Soon, a formal committee “elected by the membership” will have more control over policy development; the committee election has already taken place, with the results to be announced in September.
For now, the Greens are still undoubtedly the party with the best environmental policies. Ahead of the May elections, Greenpeace UK rated each party’s policies for England, and found the Conservatives in “a downward spiral”. Reform’s strengths were “Nothing. Reform UK in government would be a disaster for the environment and climate action.” Labour’s strengths and weaknesses columns were equally balanced. But the Greens were top of the table, praised for strongly calling for the end of oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, for a proposed “Rights of Nature Bill”, for its targets for environmental land protection, and for a private members’ bill targeting the use of pesticides by local authorities.
The best the “weaknesses” column could muster was this: “Traditionally associated with environmental protection, the Greens have received criticism for not focusing on this in recent months, preferring to focus on other topics.” The obvious retort being: these recent months were the run-up to local elections, of course they needed to cover other topics—from immigration to the cost of living.
Rather than demanding environmental perfection or party purity, rather than descending into familiar infighting, those of us on the left should consider that we share a common enemy: the environmental destruction and pollution for profit that so many on the right endorse, through policies committed to repealing the Climate Change Act, halting all large-scale renewables projects and re-opening North Sea oil and gas fields.
For those of us who want to see more ambitious climate action, there is also the hope—if not the expectation—that the Green vote will help steer Labour left again, away from Reform-lite and towards genuine environmental and social progress. Polling by YouGov conducted last week suggests that this could be a good strategy: voters, particularly those who have defected from Labour since 2024, would like the government to adopt stronger policies on climate and nature. Three of the four most popular policies were investing in renewable power, implementing higher taxes on oil and gas company profits, and renationalising water companies—all of which happen to be Green party policies, too.
The Greens’ big council gains have undoubtedly boosted the party’s profile, helping to demonstrate to voters that it is a credible local choice. Despite its booming support—visible even to my daughter—its success took some by surprise: in Hackney Wick, Tyrone Scott stood for the Greens on the “understanding that I was less likely to get in,” he told the Guardian. On being elected, he said, with apparent shock, that he’d have to talk to his boss “when I get back to work on Monday.”
The Green Team never used to have a chance—but now it has the opportunity to argue that it is a credible choice in a general election, too. Its supporters and elected officials alike will have to get used to playing in the top division—and ultimately delivering on its pledge to be the party of the climate.
