Kicking off the UK Party Conference Season, Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett set off continuous rounds of applause as she delivered a promising speech to her party in Brighton.
Bennett showed how in touch and relevant the Green Party is yesterday when she reiterated the Green Party’s long-standing policies on fracking, austerity and privatisation. The policies outlined by the leader are ones that stand well with the public and, once the party receives some national coverage of the event, will likely hit home in a large section of the population.
As the population continues to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Natalie Bennett is right to point out how the Green Party (and Ukip) will stand in good stead at the next General Election, in 2015, as people look towards viable alternatives and realise that these parties have policies they can eagerly rally behind.
Perhaps the most attractive of the positions taken in her speech are her commitments to renationalising the railways (and Royal Mail), anti-fracking and anti-cuts. With people around the country suffering from the Government’s brutal cuts, a party that promises an honest and viable reprieve should receive a considerable amount of backing. However, the Green Party's stance on immigration and asylum seekers will not be welcomed by the general public, as people continue to perceive these issues as problems for the UK. Many YouGov polls have shown that people see immigration as a threat to the country as a whole but not to themselves - this completely highlights the effect of the British media, whereby people are led to believe that immigration is a problem when few are actually affected by it.
Natalie represents a party with few, and not irreconcilable, splits and, thus, has the good fortune of rare inner-party scuffles. This conference is already showing a party ready for the election, prepared with relevant policies and eager to support each other across the country. Much more will come out of this conference that all should be interested in.
For a detailed report of her speech, see below:
Natalie Bennett has opened the Green Party conference, the first of the UK party conference season, in Brighton today, immediately outlining the party’s continued opposition to fracking, austerity and military intervention in Syria.
At her second conference as leader of the party, after Caroline Lucas, the sole Green MP, stepped down from the position of leader last year, Bennett proclaimed the party’s continued resistance to the coalition Government’s austere programme.
Praising the actions of elected Green Party members, Bennett declared it a difficult situation for Brighton and Hove Council, the only Green council in the country, under the continued strains of ‘brutal’ Government cuts. Bennett congratulated the councillors for their work on introducing a living wage, pay ratios, ethical investment and great GCSE results under their authority. She also commended Jenny Jones on her appointment to the House of Lords before announcing that Jenny will take a platform of abolishing the House.
Criticism of Ukip and Nigel Farage…
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