The Green Party of England and Wales emerged as a distinct party in the 1990s when the Scottish and Northern Ireland wings of the Green Party in the United Kingdom split away to form the Scottish Green Party and the Green Party in Northern Ireland. The Green Party had been formed in 1973 as the Ecology Party, with the first edition of the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society as its statement of philosophy and policies. The party became formally the Green Party in the 1980s.
The all-UK party enjoyed a brief spell of success in the late 1980s. At the 1989 European Elections the Green Party won 2 million votes, and received 15% of the overall vote. European elections in the UK were then run on a first past the post basis and therefore the party failed to gain any seats. Mainstream political parties were alarmed however by the Green Party's election performance and adopted some "Green policies" in an attempt to counter the threat.
However due to internal divisions over the direction of the party in the early 1990s, the Green Party fell out of the limelight and failed to maintain its electoral momentum. Due to this the party has not been able to repeat the successes it achieved in the 1980s, nor has it been able to match the success of Green parties in some other parts of Western Europe. Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system has often been blamed for this.
The Green Party has not as of 2004 succeeded in returning Members of Parliament – which must win under first-past-the-post – but it has 63 local councillors elected – gaining 10 during the 2004 local elections. The recent introduction of proportional representation for European elections means that it has two elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), Dr. Caroline Lucas (South East England; [1]) and Jean Lambert (London; [2]). They retained their seats in the 2004 European elections, despite a reduction in number of seats available.
Also elected by proportional representation is the London Assembly; it has two Green Party members, out of 25. These are Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones. The Green Party of England and Wales has one member of the (unelected) House of Lords, the Upper Chamber of Parliament, Lord Beaumont of Whitley.
The Green Party has been careful not to have a "leader"; its organization provides for two Principal Speakers, a man and a woman. The current Principal Speakers are Caroline Lucas and Keith Taylor. Taylor, a councillor in Brighton and Hove, was elected in 2004 after the death of Mike Woodin.
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Last updated: 09-12-2005 02:39:13
