The Green Party’s exclusion from election TV debates has contributed towards them becoming the UK’s third largest political party after a wave of new members.
Prime Minister David Cameron weighed into the TV debates saga by saying he will not take part unless the Greens are involved, while Ofcom dismissed their status as a ‘major party’.
However, the Greens – now with 45,285 members – surpassed the Liberal Democrats (44,680) thanks to a surge of more than 2,000 new members registering in the last 24 hours – with UKIP back on 41,943*.
Kieran Turner-Dave, Green Party candidate for Manchester Central, said: “If we had the money and exposure of the other parties, who knows what we could achieve by the general election.
“Our policies to end austerity by introducing a living wage for all workers, renationalising the railways and protecting the NHS are becoming really popular with people in the city.”
The party’s website crashed several times as it struggled to cope with demand for new members as part of the ‘Green surge’.
Mr Turner-Dave predicted this growth back in December after stating the public has been left frustrated by Westminster’s ‘big three’ and demanded a more relatable party.
He told MM at the time: “We’re ordinary people that don’t have millionaire backers or safe seats, but are still out campaigning for the common good.
“If the media made the public aware of that, then I see no reason why we can’t challenge regularly up and down the country.
“Career politicians aren’t willing to listen to what ordinary people want – but the Greens are ordinary people and we want some serious change.”
Manchester, currently a Labour stronghold, has seen great increases in Green membership and will focus on beating the Lib Dem seats of Manchester Withington, Cheadle and Hazel Grove.
Deyika Nzeribe, Chair of Manchester Green Party, said: “In Manchester, Green membership has trebled since the beginning of 2014.
“We got the second most votes in the council elections last year. I expect the elections this May will produce some very interesting results.”
*Figures as of 11:00am, January 16
Main image courtesy of Josef Davies-Coates, via YouTube, with thanks.
