Green Surge: Membership of the Green Party up 46% in 2014
• Membership passed 20,000 at 4.00pm yesterday
• Young Greens' 100% growth this year is ‘testament to a sea-change going on in politics’
• Green candidates will be standing in 70% of seats in Wales at the 2015 General Election
Membership of the Green Party has surged 46% this year and just passed 20,000 for the first time. The steep membership surge is mirrored by rising polling (1) which see the Greens riding at their highest numbers ahead of a General Election since the breakthrough year of 1989.
The Green surge shows no sign of slowing. Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green Party Leader said, ”Our stunning growth in membership is testament to the fact that the days of the old 2 party system are on the wane. This growth in membership is unprecedented for us in Wales, and there is no sign of it slowing down.
“It’s a delight to me that our 20,000th member is a young man from Cardiff, and I heartily welcome him to the Greens where true democracy and thoughtful policies mark out how we are so very different from other parties.
“Strong Green groups have been forming all over the country, and it is clear that the pressing need for social and environmental justice has resonated with more people than ever before.”
Membership of the Young Greens, the youth branch of the Party, has rocketed up by 100% since March this year (2). Green Party members help form policy at both Spring and Autumn Conferences Consistently polling at over 10% among 16-24 year olds, the Young Greens membership has doubled in size since March.
Our young people have not held back from challenging the establishment, calling for free education, affordable and publicly-owned transport, an end to migrant-bashing and a halt to the continual attacks on young people.
The youth of Britain have been at the sharp end of austerity, and are increasingly realising that none of the other parties have stood up to the huge hike in tuition fees, cuts to youth services and EMA and the dire lack of cheap housing for 'Generation Rent'.
Pippa Bartolotti added, “More and more people are hearing that we are calling for a £10 per hour minimum wage by 2020, for rich individuals and multinational companies to be forced to pay their fair share of tax, for the finance sector to be made to serve the needs of the real economy, rather than threaten it with disaster.
“The Green Party warmly welcomes all our new members. Members are the lifeblood of the Green Party, a truly democratic party.”
Ends Notes 1 http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2014/09/29/yougov-polling-green-party-neck-and-neck-with-liberal-democrats/
2 http://www.younggreens.org.uk
3 http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2014/05/26/european-elections-greens-gain-50-more-meps,-push-liberal-democrats-into-fifth-place/ 4 http://wales.greenparty.org.uk/