Combined UK Green Parties’ membership passes Ukip's

15 January 2015

* Greens now have 43,829 members across UK

* Over 2,000 new Green Party of England and Wales members join in LESS than 24 hours

* The politics of the future does not have to look like the politics of the past

* Green Party of England and Wales standing in at least 75% of seats in May 2015

The number of members of the combined UK Green Parties stands at 43,829 and has reportedly passed Ukip’s membership. A surge of over 2,000 new members of the Green Party of England and Wales on Wednesday 14th January pushed the Greens ahead of Ukip. Membership continues to surge at an unprecedented rate today (15th January).

The Green Party of England and Wales now has 35,481 members. The Scottish Greens have 8,026 members and the Green Party in Northern Ireland has 322 members.

Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader of England and Wales, wrote to Labour Leader Ed Miliband, Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Ukip Leader Nigel Farage (1) on the morning of 14th January urging the three leaders to back growing calls for the Greens to be invited to the broadcasters’ proposed Leaders’ Debates.

On 13th January YouGov revealed polling that puts the Green Party of England and Wales on 22% and tied with the Conservatives for second place amongst 18-24 year-olds (2). YouGov’s research puts the Greens comfortably ahead of both the Liberal Democrats and Ukip. The Greens are polling at their highest levels ahead of a General Election since 1989, a breakthrough year.

The ongoing membership surge and latest polling further calls into question Ofcom’s initial view (3) that the Green Party is not a ‘major party’.

The Green Party of England and Wales is standing candidates in at least 75% of seats in May 2015. That means 50% more people will be able to vote Green in 2015 than were able to do so five years ago.

Notes:

http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2015/01/14/letter-from-natalie-bennett-to-ed-miliband,-nick-clegg-and-nigel-farage/

http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2015/01/13/yougov-green-party-majorly-popular-with-18-24-year-olds/

Ofcom said the party had not “secured sufficient support in previous elections and current opinion polls to be added to Ofcom’s major party list for the purposes of the May 2015 elections”. The consultation is currently open and a final decision will be made in March.

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