WATERMELON TWENTY YEARS: GREEN LEFT FIGHTING FOR ECOSOCIALISM SINCE 2006. 2–4 OCTOBER 2026

 Cheers & Challenges for our Green Party

Roy Sandison

The leadership team of Zack Polanski, Mothin Ali and Rachel Millward have overseen a massive growth in membership and support for the Green Party, and unprecedented election results.

The party is now seen by many people as a viable left, ethical, honest party that will stand up for their community and call out big business interests. The Labour Party had to get rid of Keir Starmer because of the growing threat not just on the right but also, significantly, on the left. 

While many of us worry about the growth of the right, the fact is that many Labour MPs and their backers have for a long time invested time and political energy in trying to destroy the ideas of socialism, at the expense of fighting Farage and the right.

The defeat of Jeremy Corbyn

Corbynism was a nightmare for them, to the extent that they were willing to kill their own partyʼs possible success at the ballot box, and skilfully used the “sleeper” that was Starmer to try to extinguish democracy in the Labour Party — leaving many members and supporters with no choice but to leave, and join us.

Democracy in the GPEW

These new members expect a higher level of democracy, accountability and transparency, so we in the Green Party of England and Wales do need to ensure that all parts of the party act with better faith than we have unfortunately seen. We need to do better.

Green Left 

The GPEW has always had a strong left influence, and groups like Green Left have for 20 years been promoting the “new” idea of ecosocialism. We wanted to build on the basic concepts of socialist ideas and bring them up to date in respect of the real material threat that is climate change. This has been an education process for many on the left, and I am pleased to say that Green Left and co-thinkers led on it. Itʼs good to see Greens Organise doing similar work. Welcome, comrades.

Applaud Zack Polanski 

So I think for many of us, we knew “ecopopulism” would gain support among many people. Why would it not? It talks about rights, values, community, solidarity, power and hope — all basics of socialism. We must applaud Zack, and also Mothin, Rachel and others, for helping this great leap forward. Yes, a few minor mistakes may have been made, but it would be mean-spirited of anyone inside or outside the party on the left to be anything but generous in recognising their role in taking the Green Party the next step or two forward in the political struggle. 

Andy Burnham

 Finally, it is worth noting the “appointment” of Andy Burnham as Prime Minister. He clearly is more personable, and he does have some goodwill at the moment even from Green Party members. But can he really sustain that when he has to face down the interests of the capitalist class — and some of his own awful right-wing MPs — against the needs of working-class people? That is the real question over the next few years. Not just for him, but for us as well, with our newfound electoral power.

WHAT GREEN LEFT IS Green Left is the anti-capitalist, ecosocialist current inside the Green Party of England and Wales, founded in 2006. We argue that the climate and ecological crises cannot be solved without confronting the economic system that produces them. Membership is open to all GPEW members.

 “Pragmatism” in a hard winter   Paul Atkin, Greener Jobs Alliance

It is evident that Trump has no easy way out of the war on Iran, which means that fossil fuel energy prices will stay high, with a 4% rise in the price cap from October and more on the way. This is short-term good news for the energy companies, which are making huge windfall profits from the high prices, but bad news for everyone who has to pay them. It is increasingly driving people — and countries — towards renewable energy and vehicle options as a cheaper and more stable alternative.

The succession of bad harvests that is becoming a new norm is already pushing up food prices. If the Burnham government means what it says about prioritising the affordability of everyday life, it will have to put its money where its mouth is.

The Greener Jobs Alliance, with input from Fuel Poverty Action, CND and the Campaign Against  Climate Change Trade Union  group, has a model motion to focus this discussion in union and party branches, based on three principles:

1. To stop the crisis, we need to stop the war, tax war profits and transfer military spending.

2. The transition to renewable energy and energy conservation is the solution.

3. Crisis measures must be social justice measures.

It comes at a moment when the government is making unpopular moves to back off from the electric vehicle mandate [1], and Andy Burnham has told Donald Trump he will be “pragmatic” about North Sea oil and gas extraction [2] — this amid substantial public concern that the UK is becoming too dependent on US LNG imports [3], which increased North Sea production will not dent but renewables will.

A peer-reviewed projection from Imperial College puts the economic damage caused by the oil and gas that would be produced at between £119bn and £336bn, against the £28.7bn of value to the UK estimated by Adura, the fossil fuel company promoting the new fields [4]. And a decision has already been taken to remove climate targets as a criterion for awarding public sector contracts [5].

Please put the motion to your branch, and letʼs get this debate going.

TAKE IT TO YOUR BRANCH

The model motion, “A transformative approach to the fossil fuel energy crisis”, and the fuller statement behind it, “In the red heat: a transformative response to the war and energy crisis”, are both at greenerjobsalliance.co.uk

SOURCES

1. “Only a minority of UK wants EV transition to slow down, poll finds”, edie.net

2. Burnham on North Sea oil and gas, BBC News, August 2026

3. David Toke on UK dependence on US LNG imports, Substack

4. Imperial College projection on Rosebank and Jackdaw, The Guardian, 25 August 2026

5. “Government strengthens social value rules for public procurement”, edie.net

Paul Atkin edits the Greener Jobs Alliance Newsletter, which comes out free at the beginning of every month. Sign up on the “Join us” box on the home page of our website if you would like to receive them. The Greener Jobs Alliance is a loose coalition campaigning at a national and local level to build the broadest possible support for the policies, investment, partnerships and commitments needed to drive the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Guide to voting from an Ecosocialist perspective?

Roy Sandison

Important topics will be discussed at our conference, these are the ones to look out for

Reports

A01 Standing Orders Committee Report. 

Support. A02, A03 & A04 all need democratic scrutiny especially the report from the relatively new Green Party Council.

Fast Tracked motions

D03 Ensuring BDS internally in Green Party, 

E22 Setting up Anti-Fascist working Group, and E 38  The Green Party and the Monarchy. Please Support.

B Motions

B01 Transport Policy. Unfortunately, the Working Group has written a motion that seems to have rejected Free Public Trasport in favour of affordably priced public transport to encourage active walking.  This unspecified ʻaffordableʼ   cost will affect people, who may well need to travel.

 Vote Against or Remit for further discussion.

C Motions

These motions tend be less controversial. Again, some are being fast tracked.

D Motions 

D01 Democratic oversight of party ballot. The motion is trying to protect our party by

ensuring the threshold remains.

Please Support. Reject amendments a&b,

D02 Green Councillors apply BDS in Councils.

D03 Internally in Green Party. Support

D04 Trade Union Strategy to win.

This motion would enhance our work in the 6 million strong trade union movement including seeking ways to see how workers' organisations become part of the structure of the party. Please support motion and amendment.

D05 Under 18s pricing for Conference. 

D06 Temporary Suspensions. 

D07 Internal Disability Policy Work. 

D08 Accountability for Green MPs.

Support all 4 motions.

E Motions

E02 Zionism is Racism. Many attempts have been made to stop party members discussing this motion including outside the GPEW. It's important members can voice an opinion at our conference. The motion itself goes further than saying Zionism is Racism in that it supports the establishment of a singledemocratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine.

 Please consider supporting 

Amendments 1&2&4 seem to reject the idea of a two state solution. 

E03 Crisis in health care.

 E04 End political capture and replace EHRC.

E05 Strengthen Equality

Act. Please support.

F  Motions

Education and Democracy & Government. 

Late motions and Emergency Motions

These can cover more current issues

This is not an exhaustive list and only a limited guide. 

Have a good conference Comrades.

Moving forward co-operatively

By Nicole Haydock (North East Wales Green Party and member of Green Left committee)

Robert Owen’s statue outside the Cooperative Bank headquarters. Photo: Nicole Haydock

 A pioneer of the cooperative movement and utopian socialism, textile manufacturer Robert Owen (1771–1858) has inspired millions of social entrepreneurs around the world.Greens share the principles and values of the cooperativemovement. Motion A84 ʻMoving forward cooperativelyʼ asks members of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) to adopt a cooperative model of governance.

The principle is already settled. Motion D18 approved in October 2022 paved the way for our Association to become a company limited. What remains to be decided therefore is which model of incorporation is best for our  21st century party with over 200,000 members.

None of this is new or unusual. Both the Co-operative Party which affiliated to the LabourParty in 1927 and Llafur Cymru— the Welsh Labour Party — are co-operative companies limited by guarantee. We would not be inventing a structure; we would be adopting one that has worked well for a century!

Motion A84 does not ask Conference to approve a finished document. It requests that the Executive allocates the necessary resources to employ legal professionals to work alongside an ordinary member-led and dedicated Co-operative Model Working Group, drafting a new Memorandum and Articles of Association based on the co-operative model ofincorporation.

It builds directly on work the party has already paid for: the Incorporation Scoping Paperʼ produced for us by Bates Wells Braithwaite published in January 2015, and specifically their recommended Option C.

The route and timeline are clearly set out in the motion. The Working Group, jointly convened by the proposer and seconder, is to be in place by 30 November 2026, with supporters nominated by each Region and by Wales and with dedicated administrative assistance from the CEO.

The draft then goes to Cooperatives UK and the Financial Conduct Authority no later than March 2027. Once they have given provisional approval, the proposed Memorandum and Articles come back to a ballot of the whole membership for ratification, under paragraph 21 of the Constitution.

Having gathered much support across the board along the way, this Autumn 2026 Conference motion reached the 2024 and 2025 Final Agenda. Benefiting from the 2 times multiplier, it now has a real chance of being duly debated and voted on.

Defeating fascism — lessons of the 1970s

Alan Todd

'If anti-fascism wants to be resolutely anti-fascist then it must address climate change. If environmentalism wants to equitably resolve the crises of climate change it must be anti-fascist.'    Sam Moore and Alex Roberts, The Rise of Ecofascism (2022)

For many of my generation, our active anti-fascism began in the 1970s, when the National Front became so strong that Le Pen, leader of Franceʼs fascist Front National, sent activists over to pick up tips. Today, fascism — in one guise or another — seems even stronger.

National Front — Nazi Front!

In 1967, the National Front (NF) was formed by neo-Nazis John Tyndall and Martin Webster; Webster said the NF was “setting up a well-oiled Nazi machine”. In the early 1970s, the neo-Nazi paramilitary group Column 88 was formed, with some links to the NF.

The NF adopted the “march and grow” tactic used by first-wave fascists: controlling the streets, before winning power via elections. The NF thus placed great importance on marches and public meetings. When the 1973 oil crisis led to rising unemployment, and cuts to social housing and public services, the NF — calling for an end to immigration and forced repatriation — began to gain electoral support. By 1974, it had become one of Europeʼs most dangerous fascist parties.

Many anti-fascists began arguing that humiliating the fascists on “their” streets would demoralise them. As T rotsky had stated in Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It: “nothing increases the insolence of the fascists so much as ʻflabby pacifismʼ on the part of the workersʼ organisations.”

Confronting fascism in the 1970's 

Eventually, the left saw the NF as a serious threat, which needed to be confronted on the streets, as well as within communities and trade unions. When the NF announced plans to hold a rally in Conway Hall in Red Lion Square in June 1974, anti-fascists — adopting a “No Platform for Racists and Fascists” policy —decided to frustrate their plans. This — my first anti-fascist protest! — became known as the “Battle of Red Lion Square”. Aft r some anti-fascists tried to block the NF, the police reacted violently. Kevin Gately, a 20-year-old student, was killed, almost certainly by one of the mounted police who had charged the anti-fascists. Although many others were also injured, that “Battle” galvanised the anti-fascist movement.

A more successful anti-fascist protest took place in Lewisham in August 1977, against NF plans to march through Lewishamʼs West Indian community. In this

“Battle of Lewisham”, some anti-fascists attacked the rear of the NF march, while almost 6,000 anti-fascists broke through police lines and prevented the NF from reaching their meeting place. The NF march was abandoned, NF members were

demoralised, and the NF eventually avoided street mobilisations.

Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League

In 1976, anti-fascists formed Rock Against Racism (RAR), which organised “Carnivals Against the Nazis” that drew many to anti-racist and anti-fascist politics. Then, in November 1977, the Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was set up, combining political work with physical opposition to the NF. It quickly became a mass movement, with around 250 branches and  a membership of

around 50,000.

From creeping fascism to ecofascism

The ANL also formed small anti-fascist “squads” to defend anti-fascist meetings and musical events, and sellers of left-wing papers, against NF violence. By

1981, NF membership had dropped dramatically, and the ANL was wound up. Webster later admitted that “the sheer presence of the ANL had made it impossible to get NF members onto the streets.” Proof that effective anti-fascism requires

direct action to stop the build-up of any fascist movement.

Since the 1970s, UK fascism has changed. As Trotsky pointed out: “Historical phenomena never repeat themselves completely.” What is needed now is “a

portable concept of fascism” that shows todayʼs real dangers. Ten years ago, the concept of “creeping fascism” was developed: shorthand for an authoritarian far-right populism that, while not outright fascism, nonetheless shares some fascist

ideas and techniques. Many are now wondering — with the growth of Reform UK and Restore Britain — whether creeping fascism has not transformed into outright

fascism. Robinsonʼs huge demonstration in September 2025 was not merely “right-wing populism”: while not every participant was a fascist, the march was essentially fascist inorigin. Even if creeping fascism has not yet become fully fascist, there is now the real possibility of fascism in the UK. '

Also, as Moore and Roberts warn in The Rise of Ecofascism, and Malm in White Skin, Black Fuel, there is now the danger of a particularly violent form of fascism developing in the near future, if the climate and ecological crises are not tackled.

This ecofascism would increasingly target migrants — and climate activist groups

demanding a just transition fromfossil-fuel capitalism.

Active anti-fascism stopped the NF in the 1970s — and it is active anti-fascism that is needed now. As happened in Brighton this June, when anti-fascists resisted

aggressive policing to block a fascist march. Given the growing threat, anti-fascism needs to adopt full-spectrum resistance, including working within the Together Alliance which, despite some political weaknesses, managed to put 500,000 people on Londonʼs streets in March on a clear “Against the Far Right” stance.

Also, as fascism relies on appeals to emotion and avoids rational argument, the “no platform” tactic could be adapted for use today. Even if Farageʼs or Loweʼs

meetings are not blocked, mass walk-outs could embarrass them, and gain useful publicity for the anti-fascist cause. 

To stand any chance of building an ecologically sustainable and socially just world, we will need to stop fascism — before it smashes us. And that antifascism will need to be anti-capitalist. As Brecht said in 1935:

“How can anyone tell the truth about Fascism, unless he is willing to speak out against capitalism, which brings it forth?”

Allan Todd is a member of Anti-Capitalist Resistance and of Unite Against Fascism, and an ecosocialist, environmental and anti-fascist activist. He is the author of Revolutions 1789–1917 (CUP), Trotsky: The Passionate Revolutionary (Pen & Sword), Ecosocialism Not Extinction (Resistance Books), Che Guevara: The Romantic Revolutionary (Pen & Sword), For the Earth to Live: The Case for Ecosocialism (Resistance Books), and the forthcoming Robespierre: The Virtuous Revolutionary (Pen & Sword).

 

We are running out of time for fudging the issue  PETER MURRY

Several differing and sometimes contradictory ideological strands have gone into the development of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW).

Conservationism, environmentalism, mysticism and anarcho-syndicalism may all

have played some part. Some Greens even asserted that their politics transcended previous categories, differing from previous ʻgreyʼ politics and being ʻneither left nor right but greenʼ.

This was understandable as the central concern of conventional left, right and centre politics was the distribution and control of material benefits accruing from

industrial applications of some scientific knowledge.

However, there are and were left and right traditions critical of industrialism, often, as with William Morris, involving a romanticisation of pre-industrial societies. There were also scientific arguments pointing out that industrialism was producing very dangerous side effects from the point of view of prolonged human survival.

This went far beyond deploring the appearance of ʻdark satanic millsʼ or even highlighting the poverty and appalling living standards that capitalist industrialism inflicted on many of its workers. Capitalist industrialism was always a global  phenomenon, rooted in various imperialisms and exploitative international trade

that involved genocides, and enslavements, as it expanded so did the pollution and climate damage that it caused. Others can give precise measurements but well before the twentieth century these harms had become worldwide.

When scientists and science communicators began describing this situation, my

response was to believe them and to join GPEW. Approximately in the 1990s, many seemed to be influenced by this enviromental information, but not everyone, some chose to work some chose to work within other political parties and/or pressure groups, or independently.

 I was particularly influenced by a talk on the nature and possible trajectories of human caused climate change given by Kevin Anderson. Thirty years later he still seems to be speaking on the same theme, so has any progress been made?

By 2026 some things have changed in Britain and elsewhere, regarding government policies addressing human caused climate change. Firstly, it seems to be recognised as real, although efforts often seem to be made to ignore this. There has been an expansion in the generation of renewable energy, mostly from sea-based wind turbines; although this partly a response to the depletion of North Sea oil and gas. There have been attempts to encourage the use of electric cars which are not as environmentally good as minimising car use.

Contradictorily, proposals to drill North Sea oil and gas fields, and to allow the construction of energy guzzling data centres do not contribute to any useful approach to this dilemma. Tory, Coalition and Labour governments have all made some acknowledgement of human caused climate change, but they all fear the perceived unpopularity of attempts to deal with it.

Opposition comes from climate change deniers within the mainstream parties and from right wing challengers such as Reform. GPEW has recently had a huge surge in new membership and unprecedented successes in local and national elections. But this may not be due to ineffectual government policies on human caused climate change. The unpopularity of Starmer’s government coupled with spates of purges of the left from Labour also contributed. 

No national government can reverse a worldwide process that has probably been going on for at least two hundred years. However, it can recognise that human caused climate change is happening, attend to the scientific information that it has, fully and honestly inform the public to gain support for whatever amelioration measures that it is able to enact. Already the new prime minister seems happier with sounding and looking good, so GPEW must continue to mount electoral and wider political challenges about a climate which is drastically changing.

An Idea Whose Time Must Come

Dave King

Fifty years ago, workers at the Lucas Aerospace arms company launched their pioneering Alternative Workers Plan. Faced with threats to their jobs, they responded with a visionary, positive plan that challenged economic orthodoxy. 

They proposed 150 detailed ideas for socially useful products the company could make — heat pumps, wind turbines, kidney machines — instead of fighter jet parts. 

The Lucas Plan, as it became known, became famous worldwide, sparking other groups of workers to propose their own plans. The Lucas workers were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and Mike Cooley accepted the Right Livelihood Award on their behalf in 1981. 

The rapid, worker-led conversion of factories during the pandemic to produce ventilators showed that industrial conversion is entirely possible. As Phil Asquith of the Lucas shop stewards points out, alternative products like ventilators can be just as profitable to industry as arms: we need a concept of social profit to counter the conventional definition used by mainstream economics and the military-industrial complex. 

The Lucas Plan provides a model for a transformative, just climate transition, and in Italy today workers occupying the former GKN auto plant are putting that into practice, making cargo bikes and solar panels. As is abundantly clear, the critical factor driving climate change is massive overconsumption and overuse of energy in the Global North, and the primary culprits are the 1%. Despite this, tech elites supported by the government continue to push for AI in the desperate hope of it stimulating growth. 

The environmental consequences of this, by any analysis, are disastrous, and have sparked a vigorous movement against AI data centres in the USA and elsewhere.

That means policies and products that overcome the problems of inequality, poverty, environmental destruction and conflict created by the last 50 years of neoliberalism. The crises afflicting the world demand a response from all of us, but mainstream politics and the market economy are completely failing to deal with them.

 So just as in the 1970s, it’s time for ordinary people to take charge. We want to work with social movements and communities to develop a new alternative plan for Britain’s future, for our children and grandchildren.” We must address the root causes of the environmental devastation caused by industrial capitalism, and insisting upon socially useful production is a critical element of that. So we are using the 50th anniversary conference to take a step towards creating a network for socially useful production and bottom-up economic planning. The ultimate aim is an alternative economic plan for the UK, and a grassroots movement that will support and enact it. This may seem an ambitious target, but the situation demands that we think outside conventional boxes. The Lucas Plan’s time has come.

POEM

Green Fingers 

Patric Cunnane

Appointed head of 

assessment coherence 

She arrived at her office 

Desk, chair, keyboard 

Meetings, lunch breaks 

Water cooler moments 

She clacked in smart heels 

Down corridors where lifts 

Took her to identical floors 

Her deputy brooded over his laptop

Brought his own coffee maker

Maintaining it took much of his day

The Christmas party was a hoot 

Colleagues said what do you do? 

She said what do you do? 

There was a staff away day

Brainstorming, whiteboards,

pub lunch

When redundancy came

She couldnʼt tell the Job Centre

What skills she had

She managed people

But to do what she couldnʼt say

They sent her to a garden centre

She lingered among potted plants

Showed customers the greenhouses

Plunged her hands in soil

Felt something at last

She didnʼt wash her fingernails

for days

Invited her mum to the cafe

They bonded over scones and tea

Her mum was pleased she had a

proper job at last

“Can you get me a discount on

compost?” she said

The Code Polices Everyone Dylan Naughten

‘The EHRC Code of Practice, the Supreme Court ruling it stems from, and the Labour Party that paved the way for them, desecrated the equality legislation they purported to uphold. The  Green Party will restore it.'

This, the position of LGBTIQA+ Greens on the latest revision of the Code of Practice  from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has become the official line of Green Left. This decision to echo the anger and frustration felt

by queer people across the UK will be welcome news to our fellow ecosocialists in the Green Party, and sets the stage for Green Left playing a leading and positive role in the struggles ahead.

The rights of women and queer people are in a uniquely precarious position. Liberty and bodily autonomy are at present being undermined, and not only by the highly  visible phenomena of Trumpian authoritarianism, masked mobs of far-right hooligans, and the global backlash against the right to safe abortions.

A subtler and more creeping erosion of civil liberties is underway. The recent revision of the Equality and Human Rights Commissionʼs Code of Practice

both cements and exemplifies this creeping tendency toward authoritarianism within the British state, and it is vital for the left to resist. The decision taken by

Green Left members to criticise the EHRCʼs revision of trans rights guidance and to adopt the stance of opposition and defiance advocated by the LGBTIQA+ Greens caucus is therefore highly encouraging.

The latest guidance from the EHRC, which came into force on the 5th August, lays out a program of gender discrimination touted as human rights policy. By its ruling

sex-specific services have been emboldened to admit and exclude participants on the sole basis of their sex assigned at birth, irrespective of gender identity and

presentation. This makes second-class citizens of trans people, with the impact falling especially hard on trans men who, presenting as male, are advised to avoid so-called ʻfemale-onlyʼ spaces, but can also be legitimately excluded from male environments on the basis of their ʻbiological sexʼ as the guidance defines it.

Just as anti-suffrage activists would dismantle womenʼs public toilets in the nineteenth-century, so too is the modern British state working all out to exclude trans and non-binary people from public life. Our increasing inability to access toilets, community spaces, and healthcare has serious political consequences. To restrict our access to public space is to curtail our rights to freedom of movement, association, and expression. 

The repression that fell on the first-wave feminists of the past is now directed at us. A great wave of reactionary backlash is sweeping us to the fringes of society, and this wave will envelop other oppressed groups as well.

There is no evidence that the guidance will achieve its stated goal of balancing competing claims for inclusion, nor that it will protect women, cis or trans, from harassment and predation.

On the contrary, the fixation on sex assigned at birth engenders a culture of suspicion and monitoring. Gender-nonconforming individuals will find themselves interrogated and excluded by service providers on the basis of their appearance.

Women who diverge, even in minor ways, from hetero-patriarchal standards of behaviour and appearance will find themselves the target of even greater scrutiny and repression than they are currently.

As LGBTIQA+ Greens point out, the guidance facilitates a ʻdonʼt ask, donʼt tellʼ policy akin to Thatcherʼs. Access to services such as healthcare, leisure, and education will increasingly depend on oneʼs ability and willingness to meet the narrow definitions of correctly gendered appearance and behaviour promoted by the capitalist regimes of the Global North. The harm this causes to nonbinary and intersex people will be enormous, but cis women will not be unaffected by any means.

The police mentality spreading in the Codeʼs name is an inevitable consequence of the EHRCʼs unhelpful definition of sex, whether this was intended or not. While the Code treats single-sex spaces as exceptional and discourages over-zealous investigations into peopleʼs gender, right-wing provocateurs will interpret the guidance very differently. So called ʻtransvestigatorsʼ have already targeted cis women with spurious inquests into their gender identity. These conspiracy theorists have accused Michelle Obama of being transgender while harassing and defaming her in the press on that basis. More recently, musician Sara Skinner has been dropped from a major tour of the USA, on the basis of similarly unsubstantiated and wholly unjustified speculations. Unwittingly emboldened by the EHRC, these American phenomena will fester and grow within the UK as well, fomented by our own rising far-right movements.

The Codeʼs argument for grounding human rights policy in biology fails to convince. Intersexuality, a fact of human biology studied by sexologists and anatomists for centuries, has been given no serious attention by the authors of this document. The words ʻmanʼ and ʻwomanʼ as used in the Code are ideological categories, not scientific ones. The

Code, then, not only harms trans, non-binary, and intersex people immeasurably; it also fails on its own terms. Rather than clarifying the legal definition of sex, the Code rather guarantees that womanhood will remain a contested category, that women who cannot and will not conform to gender prejudice will find themselves scrutinised and harassed.

The decision taken by Green Left to endorse the condemnation of the Code of Practice put out by LGBTIQA+ Greens is a major step forward for the organisation. It brings the group into alignment with the wider left within the Green Party, and lays the foundation for a programme of fruitful co-operation between Green Left, LGBTIQA+ Greens, and Feminist Greens (who have also endorsed the statement).

As the activist base of the Green Party becomes larger, younger, and more diverse, the issues of  queer liberation and womenʼs rights will take on a renewed significance within the ecosocialist movement. The youth and student wings of the party are increasingly alarmed by the global backsliding on LGBTIQA+ rights and by the rolling back of many of the gains of the feminist movement. From the overturning of Roe v Wade to the UK governmentʼs continuing sluggishness on the promise to ban conversion therapy, young feminists have an awful lot to be angry about.

They are increasingly looking to the Green Party for leadership and guidance, so it is vital that the partyʼs strategy be informed by the perspectives and struggles of its queer and gender oppressed members. To fail to defy the EHRCʼs latest ruling is to facilitate the creeping rise of authoritarian, patriarchal ideology. 

Should the Green Party shirk its responsibilities to trans liberation, feminism, and human rights, then it will quickly find its younger activists dispirited and demobilised. At present, the party has thousands of committed, energised ecosocialists ready to carry the struggle forward. It will lose them if it fails to show moral consistency and courage on the question of trans rights. The right to life and dignity of trans people are certainly ends in themselves, but they must also be understood as the strategically necessary objectives of an ecosocialist party.

It has always been the responsibility of socialists to stand up for the rights of all human beings. As right-wing backlash intensifies, our historical moment is increasingly driving us toward a conflict that will end either in an outright victory for the trans liberation movement, or in a comprehensive renewal of barbarism. 

Green Left is on the right side of that picket line, and must bring the rest of the Green Party with it.

We endorse the LGBTIQA+ Greens statement on the EHRC Code

Green Left has voted to endorse the statement issued by LGBTIQA+ Greens on 22 May 2026. It records that the update rows back on some of the worst elements of the original Code but retains many of the most exclusionary ones. It calls on members, and particularly the partyʼs leaders and elected representatives, to oppose the Code and write the policy needed to restore and extend those rights.

The Headcorn Declaration

FOUNDING STATEMENT OF GREEN LEFT (2006)

Green Left has been launched as a network for Green Left has been launched as a network for socialists and other radicals in the Green Party of England and Wales. It will act as an outreach body that will communicate the partyʼs radical policies to socialists and other anti-capitalists outside the party.

Green Left (GL) is based on the assumption that capitalism is a system that wrecks the planet and promotes war. A green society must be based on economic, political and social justice. GL in short works to promote ecosocialism as a solution to our planetary ills.

GL supports the democratic structures in the party (the Green Party of England and Wales) and encourages transparency, accountability and engagement in all organs of the party. We also see the Green Party as a ʻbottom upʼ political organisation where the principles of the membership are paramount and not a ʻtop downʼ one where a self-designated political elite decide on policies and principles

GL aims to increase and improve the international links of the Green Party, building links with radical greens and ecosocialists across the planet. It will work closely with members of other European Green Parties to reform the workings of the European Green Party structures that must be democratised.

Green politics must realise the slogan ʻthink globally, act locallyʼ by linking practical local campaigns to global issues of ecology, democracy, justice and liberation.

GL aims to act within the Green Party so as to raise Green Party politics to meet the demands of its radical policies. Green politics needs to be based on dynamic campaigning and hard intellectual groundwork to create workable alternatives.

GL aims to build regional campaigns and contribute to coalition-building through coherent alignments and open discussion with progressive anti-capitalists. The movement that is required to address the issues across Britain, Europe and the world will not be the sole preserve of one party. The movement requires the development of united action by progressive forces including organisations formed by working people to defend their interests in the workplace.

Within this diverse movement Green Left will stand firmly in favour of the libertarian and democratic traditions of ecosocialism.

It is vitally important that the Green Party works to develop the continuing peace,  environmental and social movements. An orientation to  organised working people through the Green Party Trade Union Group (GPTU) also requires maximum support from GL, with the emphasis on supporting radical and rank and file currents in the unions.

Likewise, GL should seek to promote organisation and solidarity amongst currently unorganised and marginalised groups.

GL will work to enhance Green Party contributions to demonstrations, marches and other solidarity events. Greens must be active on issues that affect ordinary working people in their everyday lives and aim to be known as amongst their strongest defenders.

While GL is keen to build links with members of faith communities, and to fight alongside them against intolerance and discrimination, it will not compromise on human rights – including issues concerning women, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, and people with disabilities.

Since the activism of William Morris in the Social Democratic Federation and Socialist League

in the late nineteenth century, there has been an ecosocialist tradition in Britain. Green Left

believes that ecosocialism provides an alternative to a society based on alienation, economic exploitation, corporate rule, ecological destruction and wars. Our analysis demands that in the

best tradition of the historic left we ʻagitate, educate and  organiseʼ to build such an alternative.

The time has come for drawing together forces that can present a serious challenge to the

disastrous neo-liberal project. We believe that ʻanother world is possibleʼ, based on ecological

and socialist values. In conclusion, Green Left would work to enable you to live in a

society based on peace, ecological balance, economic equality and inclusion. Come

and join us!