Green Party Membership up 100% since January 1 2014

2 December 2014

*Party attracts 500 more members over past weekend alone

*May 2015 General Election can deliver a ‘peaceful revolution’

Membership of the Green Party of England and Wales has risen by 100% since January 1 2014. The ‘Green surge’ has seen the Party, which was founded in 1973, double its membership in a mere 11 months.

A weekend uptick of approximately 500 members - powered partly by Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett’s barnstorming Friday evening performance on BBC Radio 4 Any Questions (1) - has seen the Party pass 27,618 to reach the milestone this morning (December 2).

The 2014 surge has seen membership soar and the Party poll at its highest levels ahead of a General Election since 1989, a breakthrough year. The Greens have polled neck-and-neck and, on four occasions, ahead of the Liberal Democrats in recent months (2).

The public’s increasing appetite for Green values and policies (3) will be met at the ballot box on May 7 2015. The Party is committed to standing in at least 75% of constituencies in the 2015 General Election – that means 50% more will have the opportunity to vote Green in 2015 than did in 2010.

Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said:

"This is a real landmark in the 'Green surge'. To have doubled the membership of the party in less than a year is a real marker of the way in which people in England and Wales are seeing that we need real change in our society, not the business-as-usual politics offered by the three largest parties.

"Talking to new members around the country, their reasons, and the trajectories that brought them to the Green Party, vary a great deal. There are many former Labour and Lib Dem members who are fed up with parties that are happy to see society continued to be run for the benefit of the 1% and the continued trashing of our natural environment. Others are former non-voters, who see that to create the rapid change we need we need a new kind of politics. Some are former Tories, horrified by the government's fracking fantasy or worried by its failure to tackle our fraud-ridden, corrupt, reckless financial sector.

"These new members are putting their grassroots efforts and their financial support, as are many other supporters around the country, into making the 2015 General Election transformatory. They understand there is a unique opportunity for a peaceful revolution delivered by enthused, energised voters."

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pvp8h

2 http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2014/11/20/green-party-polls-third-on-26-in-yougov-potential-voting-poll-for-the-times’-red-box/

3 http://voteforpolicies.org.uk





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