Blogging Green Party conference

I'm blogging this week's Green Party conference at Green Despatches
Red Pepper's unofficial despatches from Reading.

Re-elect Jean Lambert, London's Green MEP

In addition to the national referendum of Green Party members on whether we should elect a Leader (see below), London members will be receiving another set of important ballot papers soon.

The London party is currently selecting our candidates for the 2009 Euro Elections and I'm part of a group working to ensure that the party re-selects our fantastic sitting Euro-MP, Jean Lambert.

As the re-elect Jean blog says:

We're a group of Londoners, some of us are members of the Green Party, others are not, but we are all really pleased that back in 1999 London was the first place in the UK to elect a Green politician to represent us in the European Parliament. We're proud that Jean Lambert is our Euro-MP and so we're working to make sure she gets re-elected in 2009.

And if you're on Facebook, you can join the re-elect Jean group.

5 out of 6 potential Green voters want a leader

As ballot papers arrive this week for the Green Party's referendum on whether to replace our "Principal Speakers" with a Leader and Deputy Leader, a new poll has shown that 5 out of 6 potential Green voters would prefer the Party to elect a leader.

The YouGov poll shows 84% of those who expressed a view think the Party should replace its "Principal Speakers" with a Leader.

There is very little variation by gender, age or region - the lowest levels of support for a leader are in the North East region and the 18-24 age group (81% in favour) and the highest in East Anglia (92% in favour).

Given this overwhelming message from the people we hope to be elected to represent, I hope that Party members will join me, Darren Johnson, Caroline Lucas, Sian Berry and 75% of our elected councillors in voting YES when their ballot papers arrive.

The Central Issue of Our Time

From The Guardian's "Backbencher" column

Hang on a minute, say Green activists. What about our party conference? It's a fair point. The Greens are meeting in Liverpool between tomorrow and Sunday when a series of fringe debates will culminate in a major debate on the conference floor on the issue of the moment: leadership, the very topic the Ming-ites are keen to avoid.

The Greens too have traditionally avoided hierarchy and leaderism which they dislike. But they pay a price for having collective leadership and titles like "principle speaker": diminished political impact in an era which elevates leaders who come in handy on TV. Theirs is a hard conference to report on. Colleagues of the Backbencher's have tried.

Today Sir Jonathan Porritt, chairman of the government's big-tented sustainability commission, weighed in to join those backing the need for a leader, who include Darren Johnson, a London assembly member, and Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, who grandly calls it "the central issue of our time".

"If ever there was a time when the Green party needed a formally elected leader, it has to be now. The Green party's analysis and policy proposals are more relevant today than ever before, but with all the major parties seeking their share of the 'green mantle', the party urgently needs a clear, passionate and persuasive leader out there, doing the job in a way that both the public and the media can relate to much more easily than is the case today," he explains to slow learners.

Even Greens need leaders - Mark Lynas

Ex-Green Party member and Six Degrees author, Mark Lynas, makes a good case for radical Green leadership in this week's New Statesman. It's good to see the debate getting outside the activist forums and into places that the average member (or potential member) might see it.

Yes to Green Leadership

Britain needs leadership. Green leadership
Leadership is the inspiring, organising, motivating force that makes sure good ideas actually get put into practice. The Green Party has such good ideas. We have so much potential. But if we as greens do not realise our potential, and soon, we will not just be letting ourselves down; we will be selling-short our planet and everything on it. We owe it to the world to make Green ideas work, and make them work now; not in 10 or 15 years but right now, from today. Ours is a generation perhaps unique in all of human history. And ours is a political party uniquely placed to make a difference.

The referendum - your say
In November 2007, a referendum ballot will be sent to all members of the Green Party of England and Wales. The question before them will be whether we should retain the posts of "Male and Female Principal Speaker" with no vote on the Executive, or to replace them with a "Leader and Deputy" or "Co-Leaders", with responsibility for presentation of policy and election campaigns and a vote each on the Executive.

Green Party Conference has already agreed by majority vote that this motion should be put to the broader membership, and that is why it is before you now.

I hope that you will join me and help stregthen the Green Party's democracy, participation and effectiveness by voting "Yes" in the upcoming referendum.

If you are not already a member of the Green Party, but would like to join and help the Green Party take its rightful place at the centre of British politics, you can join here.

Irish Greens hold six seats - may enter government

We've recently seen the Scottish Greens take a pivotal role in the new parliament and it looks like the Irish Green Party (Comhaontas Glas) may be about to go one better and take cabinet posts. The Greens held all six of their seats, while other smaller parties (Progressive Democrats, Sinn Fein, Socialist) and independents all lost seats. Green leader Trevor Sargeant has ruled out a formal coalition with Bertie Ahern's Fianna Fáil but may be able to find an arrangement that guarantees progress on Green priorities and may even end up with a seat at the cabinet table.

The Green's Election broadcast (a better quality version is on RTE) was much praised and is well worth three minutes of your time.

PRE-ELECTION ANALYSIS FROM RTE (Irish National Broadcaster)

Six years ago the Green Party did not even have a leader. Now, depending on the numbers game after the election, a Green leader could even be the next Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister).

Talk about climate change!

The scenario of a Green Party Tánaiste, of course, would only come into play if the party entered a coalition with Fianna Fáil.

Trevor Sargent, the party leader, has said that while he would not lead the Greens into a coalition with Fianna Fáil, he would consider serving in Cabinet.

That may be considered a strange position to adopt but these are different times for the Greens.

Since dropping the notion of collective leadership in 2001, the party has been on a curve of increasing professionalism. That evolution saw the party go from one seat in the 28th Dail to six in the now dissolved 29th Dáil.

The party has continued to adopt modern campaigning methods and techniques and these, allied to heightened global awareness of environmental issues, the impact of the Al Gore movie and local issues such as the contamination of the Galway water supply have all combined to give momentum the Greens as they hit the campaign trail.

Most political pundits now accept the party will certainly hold its six seats and that it could even double it to 12 seats, perhaps even a few more if it gets all the right breaks.

Even if the Greens do not hold the position of Tánaiste after the election the party looks a sure bet to have ministers at the Cabinet table, whatever the shape of the next government.

Whatever happened to Green Gordon?

Once again the Greens are setting the agenda, with the first-ever carbon-costed budget. Even MSN are critical of Gordon Brown's failure to take serious steps to tackle climate change.

"If you were hoping for a green budget, you might be disappointed. In Gordon Brown’s 11th budget, the cut in the basic rate of income tax was the main event; green taxes were a mere sideshow."

Catching up before Conference

I've been a bit lax in my posting since last week's Trident vote - taking time to catch up with things other than anti-nuclear campaigning (my day job) and the London Assembly selection.

I'm off to Green Party conference in Swansea tomorrow where I have the dubious pleasure of co-chairing the debate on a motion which would initiate a membership consultation and ballot on a proposal to replace the current positions of Principal Speakers (one male, one female) with a Leader and Deputy Leader (or co-leaders). The exact proposal that would go to the membership if the motion were passed will be determined by a number of amendments to the original proposal. It looks set to be at least as heated as the last conference session I chaired (in Hove, last autumn) which agreed the procedure for membership ballot such as the one proposed here.

Selection Results

The count for the Green Party London Assembly list selection was held yesterday. The result is subject to validation by the London Green Party at its meeting on Monday 19 March, so I'm not publishing the result here, but the good news is that it looks like I've made it onto the list (just).

First Green on Northern Ireland Assembly

Great news from Northern Ireland. Brian Wilson has just become the first Green to be elected to the Northern Irish Assembly.

Drug laws in Britain: "not fit for purpose"

As a fellow of the RSA, and a member of the Green Party, I welcome the launch today of the report of the RSA Commission on Illegal Drugs, Communities and Public Policy.

The report comes hot on the heels of comments from Alan Jones, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, who called for a return to the prescription of heroin for addicts.

The report recognises that the drug economy runs like any other economy, despite being illegal. For example, a police crackdown that is effective in reducing supply leads to an increase in prices and a consequent increase in crimes by users stealing to fund a habit. While the report does not go so far as to call for legalisation, it does call for drugs policy to

"be better integrated into broader policy, not ghettoized in some ways as it is now. Policy on substance misuse needs to remain a high priority but in a different way: not singled out for separate treatment but absorbed into the policy mainstream. That said, care needs to be taken, especially in the early stages, to ensure that the special needs of problematic drug users are taken fully into account. Drugs policies should be better integrated into policies in such areas as social exclusion, housing and homelessness and regeneration, just as they are increasingly being integrated into policies on children and young people."

It also calls for the replacement of the Misuse of Drugs Act, which it deems "unfit for purpose".

"The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is no longer fit for purpose. It should be scrapped and replaced with a new Misuse of Substances Act that:
– sets drugs in the wider context of substance misuse alongside alcohol, tobacco and other psychoactive substances;
– is linked to an evidence-based index (reviewed on a regular basis) that makes clear the relative risks of harm from individual substances;
– seeks to focus punishment mainly on harmful behaviours stemming from drug use rather than the simple possession of drugs."

Don't forget to vote

Attention London Green Party members. The deadline for voting in the selection for the Green Party Mayoral candidate and London Assembly list is this Thursday (8 March), so you need to get your ballot papers in the post today if you haven't already.

Don't forget that the incumbents and well-known figures will receive lots of first preferences anyway, so the best way to ensure new blood in the winnable places at the top of the list is to give candidates like me your first preference rather than just putting us in your top four.

But whoever, you vote for, please do vote. Thanks.

London's Green Fuel Source?

This week the Mayor of London and the Greens on the London Assembly launched the London Climate Change Action Plan, a key component of which is a switch to combined heat and power stations (CHP).

Local CHP plants are far more efficient than centralised power plants supplying a grid, for two main reasons: a) the heat produced when generating electricity is used for domestic or industrial heating rather than being treated as waste (so more of the energy released from the fuel is used) and b) because the electricity is used locally, the huges losses due to transmission over a vast national grid are reduced dramatically.

So even if they are powered by coal, oil or gas, CHP plants are a massive improvement on the current centralised generation system. But we can go one better and today's Guardian carries an excellent article spelling out the benefits of locally produced wood pellets, which are near carbon neutral.

Jenny Jones on the London Climate Change Action Plan

Jenny Jones responds to Ken Livingstone's Climate Change Action Plan for London.

Caroline Lucas MEP Speaks against Trident Replacement

There are videos of other speakers at CND's YouTube site.

And there are hundreds of photos on this flickr group.

Robin Harper MSP on Trident

Here's the co-leader of the Scottish Greens on Trident. It's my first YouTube link, so I hope it works out.

London Assembly List - Personal Statement

This is my statement as circulated to all members of London Green Party as part of the London Assembly list selection process.


London faces a number of challenges between now and 2012. In the run up to the Olympics we will see the one of the largest redevelopments for many decades, affecting large parts of East London. I have years of experience of campaigning with residents to ensure maximum community benefit and environmental sustainability in the Arsenal stadium redevelopment. As the London Assembly candidate for North East London in 2004 I gained the highest Green vote in London – partly because of my work with community groups campaigning against the negative impacts of the Olympic bid. My experience will help us build on this work to secure the greenest possible games with maximum environmental and community legacy.

Over the next five years the global nature of the games will serve to keep the spotlight on the single largest challenge we face as Londoners and citizens of planet earth – the impact of climate change. We are already seeing the establishment parties attempting to jump on the green bicycle and peddle themselves as the solution to this crisis of their own making. Having Greens on the London Assembly has lead the Mayor to take some quite dramatic steps compared with other establishment politicians. But as capital of the UK and, more importantly, as a world city London must go much further and become a global leader in tackling climate change. That is why it is vital that we not only elect more Greens to the London Assembly, but that we elect Greens with a track record of successful campaigning.

We often talk about the Green Party as the party of the future. If we are to fulfil this promise we must aim to at least double our representation on the London Assembly and bring new blood into the winnable places at the top of our list. Although only 34, I have a wealth of relevant experience. I was elected national Vice-Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at 23; I have ten years experience as a professional campaigner and fundraiser in the field of peace and human rights and at the last General Election I secured one of the best Green results in London. I was Election Agent in Islington for the 2002 council elections and a lead candidate in Highbury West where we elected our first Green Councillor last May. I played a key role in producing election publications in the 2004 GLA/Euro elections and currently serve on the Party's National Executive as Publications Co-ordinator.

Only the Green Party can offer the practical solutions that London urgently needs to help dramatically reduce the city's ecological footprint, to ensure an adequate supply of sustainable, affordable housing and to strengthen our communities by defending public services and fighting for social justice.

I believe that my Green vision for London, combined with my abilities and experience would make me a valuable member of the winning Green team in 2008. Please vote Jon Nott – 1 on your London Assembly list ballot paper today.