Rolling coverage of the opening of the Green party conference in Birmingham, including the election of a new leader (or leaders)
9.43am BST
One of the defining stories in British politics since 2010 has been the rise of insurgency parties. Ukip went from a party attracting under 1m votes (3.1%) in the general election six years ago to one getting 3.9m votes (12.6%) in 2015. The SNP transformed itself from a party that was seen as lucky to form a minority administration in Edinburgh to one that is now the unchallenged party of government in Scotland, with almost all the countries’ MPs. And, in a less dramatic way, the same trended boosted the Greens. In 2010 they got just 286,000 votes (1%). Last year they were up to 1.2m (3.8%.) and their leader, Natalie Bennett, achieved prominence because she was included in the TV debates.
But since then the Green party has collided with an obstacle – called Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn’s purist, anti-capitalist, green-tinged radicalism overlaps to a considerable degree with the Green party’s policy platform. It is not just that Corbyn has an allotment; at the general election the Greens’ flagship policy proposal was for a citizen’s income , and Corbyn and his team are now actively considering whether Labour should adopt the idea. As a result the Greens start their autumn conference today in Birmingham facing the challenge of how to compete or coexist with a Corbynite Labour party that seems to be stealing their USP.
5.14pm BST
Profiles of candidates
Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas (job share)
Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2c9DOA1
Sig Nordal 