Caroline Lucas opens the party conference season
Posted on 04. Sep, 2009 by annied in Green News
Resplendent and energetic as always, Caroline Lucas critiqued Labour’s social policies at the opening of the day’s Green Party conference activities in Hove. Most of her speech focused on social policies– particularly taking New Labour to task over the bailouts and increased income gap between rich and poor. Though she took a swipe at the Tories too, “It is simply a myth to suggest that we must slash public spending. The reality is we need
long term investment not sort term cuts.”
Caroline Lucas, Green Party Conference, 4 Sep 2009
She called for a “return to politics built on fairness” and re-infused with “passion,” and declared open season on Labour seats for the next general election. The Green party does seem poised for it: they increased their seat margin by 44%, a higher margin than any other party in the last elections. She was particularly proud that in the Norwich North campaign, the Green party spent less money than other parties but “quadrupled” it’s proportion of the vote.
Lucas said that the Green party has held its conference first in order to set the agenda for debate in the conferences that follow (27 Sep- 1 Oct for Labour & 5-8 Oct Tory):
Her agenda is mostly “constitutional” in nature and focused upon regaining the trust of the electorate:
- “End the mega donations. Political impotence shouldn’t be for sale to the highest bidder.”
- “Reform of the system of state funding for political parties…we say funding should be proportionate to the number of votes a party receives”
- “We need a freedom of information law that has real teeth!” Such that, “Ministers and MP’s can’t use excuses like national security or ministerial privilege to cover up their own incompetence and wrong doing.”
- “We need the replacement of the House of Lords with a fully elected second chamber…. It’s now clearer than ever that L never wanted reform, why else would they leave the decision in the hands of a gaggle of factory farmed turkeys?!”
- “a fair voting system to make sure everybody’s votes counts… it cannot be right that unless you happen to live in a marginal seat your vote doesn’t count. And it cannot be right that the current government can have 100% of the power on 36% of the vote.”
Lucas also called for an activist non-governmental sector that is “matched by political leadership.” In other words, it’s up to the people to want to move themselves from point A to point B. Now seems as good a time as any– there have been enough scandals (expenses, vulgar insults from within and without parties).
Lucas’ economic and electoral points relate to environmental arguments but are smartly phrased in social language. She concluded by briefly reiterating the Green party’s positions on various energy and climate change issues. By setting her agenda in the language she did, she grasped the heart of green driven economic recovery issues. Lucas proved that the Green party under her leadership is well-poised to move beyond “green.” The problem (and what we’ll be watching at election time) is that the Green social agenda may be too far to the left and too pie-in-the-sky to claim more of the vote.
Watch VSO UK
Curious about how local organizations are making a difference in the UK? Try our VSO Channel (left)
For more on freedom of information and transparency in government, try this blog.
Want to find out if your MP is on twitter? Tweetminster can answer; if you’re American: Tweetcongress (attn: Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis– leave a comment with your resources!)
At blog.green.tv, we plan to cover all the party’s conferences. We welcome discussion in the comment space. So let’s hear it! Agree, disagree?
updated 6 Sept, 2009