GREEN PARTY 2017 CONFERENCE
Some notes from Harrogate
by David Taylor
I thought that conference might be a
fairly low key affair after the 2017 General Election but it turned out to be
the most sparsely attended of the seven Green conferences I have been to. One
motion was passed by 84 votes to 81 with no more than 200 present; at times
people had to be summoned back from the refreshment bars as conference had
become inquorate. This compares with 2016 where there were well over 1,000
people in the hall at times. The social scene was a bit bleak with less of the
traditional shindigs. No disco, young greens music night or open mic. night -
although the Big Green Quiz survived. Nothing daunted we had a great curry
night with old friends, including Clive Martin from Taunton, and bumped into
Minehead`s own Klina Jordan.
Klina addressed conference the next day
as co-proposer, with Caroline Lucas and other notables, of a motion which
became controversial. Part of it “welcomed” the fact that many Constituency
Labour Parties had signed up to Klina`s Make Votes Matter campaign for
proportional representation. An amendment was moved to replace “welcome” by
“noted” - after all, nothing Labour members did could possibly be welcome,
could it ? It is ironic that the very next week the Young Labour conference
declared that fossil fuels must be kept in the ground if the planet is to avoid
the worst climate change scenario. They
passed a motion calling for all public bodies to divest their funds from
fossil fuels and reinvest in renewables as part of the Just Transition
industrial strategy to decarbonise the economy while ensuring jobs for workers
in affected industries. A welcome move.
Green Party Governance
Much of the Green Party`s structure and
processes date back to the mid 1970s and for many years there have been
proposals for both procedure and policy making to be more inclusive,
straightforward, efficient, up to date, democratic etc. A Governance Review Group (GRC) was set up a
few years ago and, as I understand it, was due to come up with some proposals
about now. However, this body seems to have bit the dust after conference
passed a motion backed by the party leadership saying that “further
consideration” of proposals from the GRC be suspended.
There is now to be a “Urgent and Holistic
Review of how the Green Party operates”. The Executive Committee (GPEx) and
Regional Committee (GPRC) have been instructed to establish a Commission,
chaired by “a respected member” of the party and appoint ten other members
selected for their skills and experience. They will conduct an complete review
and submit their report to conference
urgently. Some members have said that the whole thing seems a bit “top down”
but the final decision on their proposals will go to a referendum (oh no !) of
the full membership.
Interesting and Inspiring
Fringes
A well attended and informative fringe
called jointly by Green House think tank, Lucas Plan Just Transition Group, GP
Trade Union Group, Green Left and PCS asked - How can a low carbon
economy create new employment ? It was
pointed out that there are over 31 million workers and they all have a stake in
the transition to a low carbon/low energy economy – not just those in the
obvious sectors. Sam Mason from the civil service union PCS, outlined the
union`s thinking on the transformation of the economy by a future radical
government and some of the nuts and bolts involved. These included a Ministry
for Jobs, Skills and Social Protection with a positive role for Job Centres
working in partnership with and having democratic input from the local
community. A National Climate Agency
would ensure that environmental costs and
benefits were factored into all projects.
Deputy Leader Amelia Womack chaired the
panel discussion “After Grenfell”.
Everyone on the panel agreed that the leaders of Kensington &
Chelsea council had treated their tenants with contempt over many years; little
imagining that a tower block tenant would prove to be their nemesis. Joe
Delaney lived in the next tower block to Grenfell, and only 25 metres away. He
described how he woke up in the early hours to see a raging inferno outside his
window. Now a spokesperson for the Grenfell Action Group, Joe told us how he
had been going through a difficult period in his life “it doesn`t sound good”
he said “ but the fight for justice for the Grenfell victims and their families
has given me something to live for” Unfortunately for the council Joe is not
only articulate and determined but his previous career was in the housing and
legal departments of a large council in the north. He is an inspiring speaker
and received a standing ovation.
Another charismatic speaker was local
solicitor Jennifer Nadel, who gave us a brilliant picture of election night in
Kensington when the Tories lost one of their safest seats. She had seen from early in the day that masses of
people from the estates, including Grenfell,
were turning out and queuing at the polls – mostly people who never
usually voted. As night fell and news of a recount spread, people began to
gather outside the town hall, the crowd soon swelling to several thousand. When
the news of a Labour win was announced everyone was ecstatic and started the
singing and dancing that made it seem like carnival for the rest of the night.
Jennifer said she was deeply moved and although she had been a Green party
candidate said “that night the people won”.
Two Motions Lost
The Trade Union Congress, often depicted
as a lumbering carthorse, is not noted for its lightning speed in grasping
issues and tackling them before you can say knife. So the unanimous decision to
pass a Climate Change Motion at their 2017 conference is a historic step. The
motion notes “the irrefutable evidence that dangerous climate change is driving
unprecedented changes to our environment...” and they advocate various measures
for transition to an environmental sustainable future for all.
An emergency motion to the Green
Conference, although recognising that the TUC motion did not go far enough,
welcomed their new stance and called upon the Green Party leadership to work
with the trade union movement and their political representatives to campaign
for a just transition. This motion was lost. This reflects the composition of
the 2017 conference as the motion would have probably have passed at previous
conferences.
A motion which advocated emphasising the
“environmental dimension” to all issues and bringing ecological themes into
topics “not normally associated with them”
was generally understood as being an attempt
to move the party back to the “good old days” of the Ecology Party. This motion
was also defeated. But only by the narrow margin of 129 to 112.
A Difficult period ahead for
the Green Party
Jonathan Bartley gave a rip roaring
address listing all the reasons he was so proud of the Green Party and so proud
to be a member. The reasons were many and each one received a thunderous round
of applause. Jonathan was proud that we have never failed to live up to the new
Green Party slogan “Speaking Truth to Power” and we never will, whatever others
may do. The Green Party had the second best General Election result in its
history in 2017 and he was pleased to
see Theresa May lose her majority but disappointed with Labour.
In the Premier Inn, with time
to spare before our train back to Taunton, I caught some of the BBC Parliament
Channel coverage of the SNP conference. Humza Yousef was telling delegates of
all the reasons he was so proud to be a member of the SNP, pausing every 90
seconds for wild applause to break out; and when he`d done that he listed all
the reasons why Scottish Labour were rubbish. There seems to be a standard
speech to rally the party faithful when prospects have taken a turn for the
worse.
All is not doom and gloom. The Greens
still have Caroline Lucas MP. We are still winning council seats in some areas.
The party has three times as many members as a few years ago and has held on to
65% of people who joined in the Green Surge.
Our members are at the forefront of the anti-fracking movement and other
campaigns on the ground and as the effects of global warming become more
evident the party is bound to attract new support. But these positives can not
disguise the fact that the political landscape has changed and there is the
realistic possibility of a Corbyn led Labour Party with a radical agenda
forming a progressive government. The Green Party is bound to be squeezed
electorally.
Paul Mason has said “Many Labour people,
including myself, want to see a strategic alliance of Labour, the progressive
nationalists and the Greens in place, even if Labour were to win an overall
majority”. That, along with PR, is the stuff to give the troops. Rather
than retreat into a glorious isolation we can campaign for Green Party policies
while also working for the election of a Corbyn led government.
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