On 21rd Augst 2023, speaking on behalf of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) at the County Court Hearing of Dr Shahrar Ali and Ms Elizabeth Reason and Mr Jon Knott, CEO Mary Clegg stated that the Young Greens were a “wholly autonomous body”. She added: “I think we must not adopt responsibility for them whilst also agreeing their behaviour is reprehensible”.
Whilst Dr Ali did not accept that the Young Greens were wholly autonomous, in rejecting the 10th and 11th ‘detriment’ submitted by Dr Ali and caused by the Young Greens, Judge Hellman took a different view. He ruled that “although they have strong institutional links with the Green Party, they are not agent of the Green Party and do not speak for it”.
In his forensic scrutiny of all the GPEW’s constitutional documents, Judge Hellman will have checked the status of the Young Greens which may explain his somewhat ambiguous ruling.
The question therefore which now remains to be addressed by the guardians of the Party’s Constitution – and perhaps as a matter of some urgency – is when is a body of the Party an “agent” of the GPEW or when it is not an agent ?
As opposed to the Green Party of Wales which is an affiliated party, the Young Greens are not affiliated. It is an organisation listed as a Special Interest Group (SIG) under the GPEW’s constitution, alongside seven other groups, including the Green Party Women and Greens of Colour.
Members of SIGs can have their own constitution which, in principle, has to be approved by the Equality and Diversity Committee. Some Groups have adopted their own Standing Orders, but as evidenced recently by the most bizarre “disaffiliation” of the last two Green Party Women Committees by the Standing Orders Committee, SIGs are definitely not autonomous.
Exploring Judge Hellman’s ruling with regards to “strong institutional links”, the evidence is clear: the Young Greens co-chairs sit on the Green Party Executive (GPEX) with voting rights. They have also traditionally been in receipt of a very generous allowance from the party. In response to a recent appeal for assistance from GPEX, it has been reported to the Green Light that they handed back a sum of £17000.
Whilst holding their own separate Convention, and as individual members of the Party, Young Greens have also developed a particularly keen interest in taking part in the GPEW’s bi-annual Conferences where they propose their own motions and actively assist in the running of the events.
In a comment about the first Plenary Session at the 2022 Spring Conference in Harrogate, a Senior member reported that whilst Young Greens were “positioned in a block in the middle of the auditorium, near the front, sitting back smiling and clutching their large numbers of proxy votes, they chose to throw a couple of environmental motions under the bus, As a result, their Late motion (G02) supported by Brighton Pavillion Caroline Lucas Green MP entitled ‘ Solidarity with Drag Queen Story Hour’ was heard and passed.
Over the past few years, motions from the identinarian wing of the party – Young and older followers of the cult – have rarely been debated at plenaries with more than 400 members in attendance and have been approved by a very small majority. Conferences generally attract between 1.6% and 1% of the total membership.
Besides and beyond such links as taking part in Conference, the most significant impact of our “wholly autonomous” Young Greens has to be in the success of their successive cohorts recruited from universities in introducing Identity Politics within the party through the back door and gradually imposing their Radical Critical Theory “Principles” at all level of the party’s governance including the entire disciplinary processs.
If the Leadership Team and CEO Mary Clegg were to seriously take on board lessons from Judge Hellman’s ruling and consider making good use of members’ money, they could start by asking Hamza Egal, the newly appointed Equality and Diversity officer to organise training programmes for the Young Greens, Special Interest groups and Local Parties in need of help in the art of active listening and debating.
But what of Local Parties ? Are they “ wholly autonomous” too, “agents of the GPEW” or simply “ institutionally linked” to our free floating and un-incorporated Association?
The Green Light will seek to illuminate this challenging legal and constitutional matter which was also raised by Judge Hellman in his statement of 9th February 2024.
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