how democratic is the green party?

As hundreds of thousands of left-wing activists are busy holding meetings up and down the country debating what best democratic structures their emerging Your Party should adopt, references to the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) model have been made here.

Given that a substantial proportion of new recuits are either former Labour Party members, former members of leftist parties /organisations and trade-unionists, questions about democracy and internal governance are increasingly being raised in some Local Parties.

In response to such welcome enquiries, this is The Green Light’s attempt to illuminate the good, the not so good and some of the very bad aspects of democracy within the Party.

But before reading on, we would advise visitors to double-check our mission statement here as we do not pretend to always be as objective as the BBC.

So, what are the Objects and Aims of the Green Party ?

As per paragraph 3 of the Constitution, ‘ the object shall be to promote the aims of the Green Party, which are:

i) to develop and implement ecological policies consistent with the Philosophical Basis of the Party as expressed in Policies for a Sustainable Society

To be noted : Passed in 2022, the Philosophical Basis were amended here.

ii) to that end, to win seats at all levels of government

iii) to organise any non-violent activity which will publicise and further the first two aims’.

We now strongly suggest you read this piece from Bright Green about a seriously worrying development from motion D28 passed almost unnoticed at the 2025 Conference in the general and momentary feeling of euphoria.

So, what is quite different with the GPEW, as compared to all main political parties is that, legally, it is one single Association like any community or sports club. It is also made up of over 300 autonomous Local Parties. Those are not actually ‘branches’ as Trade Union branches for example.

The Green Party does not operate on a democratic centralist model. It prides itself of being the embodiement of its ecological ideal so as to ensure that decisions are taken at the closest participation level to those affected by them. This ideal applies to Local Parties.

According to the Party’s Constitution , Local Parties therefore “shall determine their own constitution in accordance with bye-laws to be approved from time to time by Conference.” But Local Parties are actually not legally ‘Agents’ of the GPEW. This means that their adherence to the Party’s Political Strategy is in effect carried out on a consensual, voluntary basis. As far as we are aware, no Local Party has ever been threatened with closure for deviating from the GPEW’s core values or Strategy.

The principle of autonomy is however increasingly being tested with a quasi dictatorial implementation of a Political Strategy by the Executive which prioritises elections at the expense of Object i) of the Constitution.

When people join the GPEW, an agreed percentage of the money collected centrally is paid back into Local Parties’ funds. The rest is kept by the London based Office and for staff wages. Any proposed change in the “capitation” fee paid to Local Parties must be approved by Conference.

This has been a major bone of contention in 2023 between Local Parties Teasurers and the Executive as it was facing a potential insolvency crisis.

That same year, a decision was made by Conference that “the legal form of the Green Party shall be a company limited by guarantee from the Commencement Date of that company”. However, no progress has been made towards a Commencement Date as yet.

The adoption a Memorandum of Articles of Association via a ballot of all members is likely to exercise long serving and new members over the next 12 months and beyond. Following the approval of a motion entitled ” Change the Governance Structure of the Party” in Bournemouth, a move to establish a company limited by guarantee on the Reform Party model favoured by members of the Executive and the Green Party Regional Council is causing some concern.

Whilst successive Leaders of the GPEW pride themselves on the Party’s internal democracy because the Leadership and the 13 Executive Committee positions are elected on a “one member one vote” system, the reality is that because of ‘the encouragement to practive the greatest possible autonomy’ ( as per the Constitution ), Local Parties’ participation in those elections is poor.

In 2021, Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer were elected as co-leaders with a turn out of 22%. In 2025, Zack Polanki was voted as Leader by 20411 members as the membership had jumped to 68500. It has now more than doubled.

It has been reported to us that approximately 4000 new recruits via #backzac2025 What’s app registered their votes in the last three weeks before the ballot deadline.

Motion D07 entitled ‘Eliminate external influence in GPEW democracy’ which sought to minimise the risk of entrism by restricting the right to vote to members with a minimum of 3 months membership was, perhaps not surprisingly, heavily defeated at the 2025 Conference. Turkeys do not vote for Xmas.

Whilst the Leadership Team ( Leader and Deputy Leaders ) and members of a 13 strong Executive are elected by the whole of the membership, members of the 7 Committees (Alternative Disputes resolution, campaigns, conference, Equality and Diversity, Green World Editorial ,the International Committee and the all powerful Standing Orders Committee ) are elected by Conference attendees.

The number of votes cast by Conference attendees for the election of members of the 7 Committees which is usually held at the tail end of Conference is extremely poor; it can varies beween 150 and 200 members.

Together with the election of the 13 members of the Executive, these positions are widely known to be the target of slates from Special Interest Groups activists as evidenced here.

Conference is open to all members. It is not a representative or delegates event. All participants are self-appointed and therefore answerable only to themselves. The average participation over the past decade has been between 1% to 1.5% of the whole membership.

Approximately 1600 members – a record high – took part in the Autumn 2025 Conference in Bournemouth. With a fast growing membership going on at the time, it has been estimated that 2.3% of the membership took part in that event.

Whilst a representative or delegates model has been the object of discussions for over a decade, no motion to that effect has been submitted to Conference. This may possibly be for ideological reasons for members from Special Interest Groups but also for fear that a hall packed with self-appointed attendees would simply dislike the concept and vote against.

However, it is hard to believe that with a membership of over 150000, the Party could possibly continue pretending to be a democratic organisation without embracing a representative model in its decision making process. The existing democratic deficit which exists between the grass roots and the all powerful ‘Supreme Body’ of the Party has been identified by many long serving members as the main cause of a dysfunctional system of governance. It is an issue which will not go away and will have to be resolved as a matter of some urgency.

Spokespeople are apppointed by a dedicated panel. We have so far failed to find the process whereby this panel is constituted.

The Green Party Regional Council (GPRC) operates an indirect model of democracy with 20 representatives elected by Regional Parties, plus The Green Party of Wales. GPRC provides a forum for dialogue between regions and is responsible for keeping under review the general well-being of the party as well as supporting and advising the Executive. It has the power to hold Executive members to account. Crucially it also has overall responsibility for the Party’s strategy and policy statements beween Conferences. It is the final arbiter in disciplinary cases.

The 9 Regional Parties and the Green Party of Wales are open to Local Party members in their Region ( broadly mapped out along the former EU electoral constituencies) and are free to determine their own constitution, in accordance with bye-laws to be approved from time to time by the Annual Conference.

Participation in the election of representative to serve on GPRC varies greatly form one Region to another as many Local Party activists do not take part in Regional meetings. It is known that the role of a GPRC’ representative can be a demanding one. The turn out is notoriously high. The great majority of ‘ordinary’ members are also often unaware of the importance of the role of GPRC in the good governance and well-being of the Party.

However if the Executive, GPRC and the 7 Committees are indeed to be abolished and replaced by a 36 strong Council as per motion D28, such radical change will inevitably present new and formidable challenges to democracy within the Green Party of England and Wales.

Your comments are always welcome: TheGreenLightBlog@protonmail.com

Please share and ‘like’.