Manifestos Unwrapped 4. The Green Party: A Compassionate Manifesto that Focuses on the Fundamental Cause of the NHS's Collapse.
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When Caroline Lucas announced she was stepping down as an MP at the next election, people started to wonder what would be next for the Green Party. Lucas has, after all, been a prominent figure for many years, much more recognisable than the average backbencher in the House of Commons. As she explained to The Guardian back in April:
âIâve been the Green partyâs frontbench spokesperson on absolutely everything for 14 years and it is exhausting,â she says. âIâd love to continue talking to you now, but Iâm the only person who can be there for the Green party to hold Rishi Sunak to account.â
Some politicians make statements like this for show, grandstanding to build themselves up in the eyes of the public, but in Lucasâ case itâs not an act. In my work campaigning for the NHS I had interactions with her team during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond; I can tell you, Caroline Lucas is a force of nature. She runs one of the most industrious and productive teams Iâve come across - researching important issues, providing commentary, and preparing speeches so that she can provide input at crucial moments. I doubt the work has stopped for a minute since she took on the role in 2010. Now she deserves a break and to hand the baton to her successors, but sheâs a tough act to follow.
The Green Party have proved a lot of doubters wrong; instead of retreating as Lucasâ star recedes, they have built on her work and have been making political gains over the past year. Their success in the recent local elections was impressive, as BBC News reported in May:
âThe Green Party of England and Wales has hailed a "record-breaking" campaign after securing its highest amount of elected councillors. The party has boosted its total number of councillors to 812, after gaining 74 seats at England's local elections on Thursday.â
Theyâre now hoping to follow this up by winning seats at the General Election. Not just 1 MP representing their ideas this time, but 3 or even 4. Speaking to one of their most prominent campaigners this week, they explained to me that things feel really positive on the doorsteps as they campaign locally. Many feel that Labourâs manifesto isnât as progressive as theyâd like and are finding the Green Party pledges more appealing. Some are keen for this representation locally, and others feel that Keir Starmer will need strong progressive opposition in Westminster if he wins a large majority. Either way, the Green Party is enjoying more attention than theyâve had in years.
With a growing role in national politics, itâs important to scrutinise the plans theyâve made for the NHS, and so this newsletter is about their key manifesto pledges, and their merits and drawbacks. Letâs get into itâŠ
I always find it interesting to listen to what politicians are saying about their own policies. It tells you a lot about the mood within their party, and how theyâre trying to position themselves politically. The Guardian covered their manifesto launch and wrote an article about what co-leaders Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer had to say. It contains this quote from Ramsay:
âWe reject the pessimism of the other parties who donât believe we can safeguard our publicly funded health system, [who think] that we canât provide warm and secure homes for everyone, that tackling the climate crisis is too challenging for usâ... And this about Denyer: âShe accused the Conservatives and Labour of âa race to the bottom on taxâ. She said: âThey think that people donât cotton on that this means even more devastating cuts to public services, like the NHS, that we rely on every day.â
They sound confident. Iâve been impressed with the interviews Iâve seen from their spokespeople too; thereâs a fluency in the way they explain their ideas, and they have responded thoughtfully when asked the difficult questions. This in itself is refreshing when weâve endured many years of Tory ministers on morning talk shows, watching as they  look shifty and awkward, giving clear signals to all that they donât want to be there at all.
The Green Party manifesto isnât long, and the section about the NHS is a single page. This surprised me, because I had been expecting more detail, but the things they have included are really important. Crucially, their manifesto, unlike the Conservative Party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Reform Party focuses on NHS privatisation. That alone marks out this manifesto as different, because it demonstrates that the Green Party is keen to tackle the fundamental reason that the NHS is collapsingâŠ