Issues that the Green party should be championing in the election that aren’t the environment

Guest post by Well Hung Parliament's William Hayward:

Ah the Greens. “I’d love to see the Greens get in” the statement uttered by every left of centre voter right before they don't vote for them. So how can the Greens ever hope to get into power when even people who want them to be elected won't vote for them? Well one great solution would be to shout about a number of key policies they have which are not directly linked to the environment. That way you don't just appeal to eco-warriors and people living close to sea level. Here are four policies that the Greens could quite literally fight an election on without necessarily appealing to their key demographic.

The EU referendum

So it wouldn't be outrageous to say that the further right on the political spectrum you are the more likely you are to be against the EU and therefore in favour of a referendum you think would lead to an exit. You would therefore think that a political party broadly positioned to the left of all of the other mainstream parties would be against a referendum.

The Greens however are in favour of a referendum in order to use it as a mechanism to reestablish the direction and make up of the EU. They want to move it away from endless focus on free trade and promote “genuine cooperation” and enhance democracy (you can find it in full here).


Most of the UK is eurosceptic in leaning. Usually this not necessarily because they are bigoted little Englanders but because they have legitimate concerns about the European Union and its future direction. They are not against the EU fundamentally but are uncomfortable with its current form. However the only outlet these people have for this is essentially UKIP, who, let's face it, are bigoted little Englanders.

A concerted push to establish that the Greens are not anti European but are against the EU in its current form could be a huge vote winner if properly utilised.

Nationalise railways

Without a doubt one of Labour's most popular policies in the lead up to the election is the re-nationalisation of the railways. This is also a longstanding Green party policy.

Most of the electorate are in favour of turning what is a natural monopoly back into a state asset especially following consecutive year on year fare hikes.

If the Greens could tap into the public's annoyance that the unglamorous maintenance of the railways is conducted by the state and the profitable part run by the private sector they could have the potential for a huge return in terms of votes. Plus it would directly compete with one of the more left leaning Labour policies thus peeling off some of the core Labour vote.

Ban proactive recruitment of overseas NHS staff

The Green party have promised to ban proactive recruitment of overseas staff for the NHS. This is motivated by a desire to safeguard the NHS, keep high standards and reduce UK unemployment. This stands in stark contrast to UKIP who have the same policy but it is motivated by a desire to have as few brown people near them as possible.

There is a real political opportunity to be had by being a party that is perceived to stand up for the rights for British people and the NHS whilst not being driven by closet xenophobia. By positioning themselves as such they can appeal to a larger spectrum of voters while remaining true to their core voters with eminently sensible policies like amnesty for long term illegal immigrants.

Clear policies- e.g. Raising school age to 6 if parents want it

“There is no difference between any of the parties”. This utterly moronic statement is shouted by politically illiterate muppets across the land. Despite the fact it is clearly not true to anyone with the ability to use a search engine it does present a political opportunity.

A clear and emphatic difference in policy is what engages people. “If I vote for party A they will do this, if I vote for party B they won’t”. It is really simple and engages people far more than “both parties will cut the national debt but one will do it over 5 years from an increase in tax on the top 8.3% of earners whereas the other will do it off the back of cuts with no effect on frontline services”.

The Greens are in a great position in that they can position themselves as both a protest party by virtue of having few MP’s and a legitimate alternative by having clear, evidence based policies. A good example of this is the current Green policy of giving parents the option of raising the starting age of children in school to 6. If one takes even a cursory glance at the best performing countries in terms of primary schooling it is overwhelmingly countries that start children in school at an older age. It allows for great learning through play, language skills to develop and stops children being immediately behind because they are less developed than their peers.

A few clear, different policies with a scientific basis could propel the Greens into the political mainstream.

Well Hung Parliament (William Hayward) is a Cardiff based political commentator and journalist. He Tweets @whungparliamentHe blogs at https://wellhungparliament.wordpress.com. He Facebooks at www.facebook.com/parliamentwellhung