Structures, groups & factions, membership, internal elections, rules, finances, policy-making, training, history & electoral peformance & polling
Comparative study of Green Parties within the UK in comparison with the Labour Party and Your Party
Institutional data on structures, groups & factions, membership, internal elections, rules, finances, policy-making, training, history & electoral peformance below
Full explanatory Introduction, 2026 Green Conference & Internal Elections on Current News page. Archive of articles on Narratives/Archives page.
Leadership and Main Public Elected Representatives
Leadership and Green Parliamentary Party
Leadership
Leader: Zack Polanski
Deputy Leaders: Mothin Ali and Rachel Millward
Parliamentary Leader of the Green MPs: Ellie Chowns This is a required Parliamentary Role and is not part of the Greens internal democratic structures. However it does inadevertantly create something of an innovation a bit similar to the "tripartite" distributed Leadership system of the German SPD (and possibly other German parties in its federal and high "separation or powers" constitutional system?) which has Co-leaders elected by members, a Parliamentary Floor Leader elected by MPs and also a Candidate for Chancellor normally elected by its conference.
The Leader and Co-Deputy Leaders of the Welsh Greens, is seen as part of the Leadership team - see Welsh Section below.
Spokespersons on policy: The Party Leadership Team shall nominate persons to Spokesperson roles who shall each be responsible for covering a designated area of policy. They shall be appointed only subject to ratification by the Green Party Council, who may approve or reject any nomination.
Senior Elected Representatives
5 seats in the House of Commons: Ellie Chowns, Sian Berry, Carla Denyer, Adrian Ramsay, Hannah Spencer
2 members of the House of Lords: Natalie Bennett and Jenny Jones
2 Welsh Senedd Members - see more in Welsh section
3 London Assembly Members: Zoë Garbett, Zack Polanski, and Caroline Russell
Note: 15 Scottish Parliament Members represent the separate Scottish Greens - see below
Senior Staff
Senior Staff: CEO Harriet Lamb, Deputy CEO and Head of Elections Chris Williams.
Key Messages
Key Comparator Stats with other parties
Vote Share in 2024 General Election: 7%
Parliamentary Short Money: £0.5m - significant amount no doubt paying for staff which because it is part allocated on vote share creates a financial incentive to run a full slate at parliamentary elections now the Greens have a group of MPs
Parliamentary Candidates in 2024: 574 + 44 Scottish Green candidates = 618 across GB
Latest Vote Shares in GB PR based elections of which they have fought 21 of them over the last 27 years:
Scottish Parliament 2026: 14% which elected 15 MSPs (Scottish Greens are a separate Party - see below)
Welsh Senedd 2026: 7% which elected 2 MS
London Assembly 2024 : 12% which elected 3 AMs
PR election vote shares are useful to understand the Party's underlying vote without any FPTP squeeze on it.
Most recent local election SoPN metric for % of local candidates stood: 98% This new culture of contesting most seats will also drive out smaller left parties (who at most contest 10-15% of seats) and ensure Green Party electoral dominance left of Labour.
1,300 Local Councillors and 18% vote share in May 2026 elections (279 Councillors and 22% in London)
Welsh Greens and 9 English Regions - see below
281 Local Parties - see below
Membership: 216,000-224,000 - see more detail on membership history/breakdowns below + 10,000 Scottish Green + 800 NI Greens = 226,800-234,800 across UK
Democratic Structures
The Green Party's own Guide to its structures
How the Green Party Works - a video by a Green Party Member
Executive Level
The Executive (GPEx) Manages the day-to-day operational direction, finances, staff, and public representation of the party. As well as the Leadership Team has an elected GPEx Chair and 8 reps elected by an OMOV STV ballot of members
The Green Party Council (GPC) As well as Leadership Team is composed of 36 representatives from regional parties elected by OMOV STV ballot of members. It reviews party well-being, advises GPEx, and ensures the strategy aligns with the membership's interests. The Council shall have overall responsibility for policy statements between Conferences.
Other National Committees
These have directly elected reps in their own right and some are classed as a Committee of the GPC except where stated a sub-committee of GPEx
Elections of Reps are made by conference not an OMOV ballot of members with the exception of the Policy Development Committee which is an OMOV national ballot
Policy Development Committee - See Policy below
Campaigns Committee acts as a sub-committee of GPEx
Green World Editorial Board - See Green Media below
International Committee - See International Affiliations below
Rules/Regulatory Level Committees
Disciplinary Committee Investigates complaints and provides panel members for hearings - see Constitution and Rules below. The committee will comprise 22 members, two members from each region, two from the Wales Green Party and two members elected biennially at the Autumn or Spring Conferences.
Alternative Disputes Resolution Committee - see Constitution and Rules below
Conference Management Committees
Conferences Committee - Conference on News page
Standing Orders Committee - Conference on News page
Conference Level - Decision-Making
Party Conference which meets twice a year (typically in the Spring and Autumn) - see more details on News page. Every single paid-up member has full voting power at the conference. They can debate, vote on motions, and directly decide the party’s constitution and official platform
Nations/Regions/Local
Nations/Regions - Welsh Greens and 9 English Regional Parties - see section below
Local Parties Claims over 200 local parties(broadly based at Unitary local Council level similar to the Lib Dems perhaps reflecting a Local Council election focus of the past) drive local council election campaigns, run community initiatives, and select parliamentary candidates.
Looking at the Regional Data - see below -it looks like 281 Local Parties but it is possible some of the smaller ones may be less active or looked after by nearby bigger ones.
The Party had 284 Accounting Units in 2023 further confirming the 200+ Branch number. See below some data on a range of branch membership sizes across its English Regions.
International Affiliations
European Greens (EGP) - possible that the passing of the Greens for Palestine motion may lead to tensions with European Greens and some have claimed it could see GPEW expelled from European Greens? Indeed it now seems the European Greens are already in touch with GPEW having had observers at the Green Conference and may face expulsion? More news here and here. Looks like GPEW may be losing its voting rights at EGP now? The EGP has now issued a strong statement condemning the motion and seeking urgent clarification from the GPEW as have the German Greens.
Analysis
It's possible UK Greens may be more to the ideological left of their European colleagues, where due to PR elections there may be a former Communist now Left Populist party or parties which the more eco-socialist types in GPEW are attracted to. An example here is the comparison between the long-standing German Greens (often in government at national and Lander level) and UK Greens which have not has as much coalition experience except perhaps in Scotland in more recent times?
Other
Current Issues
One of the key advocates of the Greens 4 Palestine Motion sets out the strategy behind moving it with more here, Inspired by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed and its “strategy of conflict,” the idea is to set the terms of debate, provoke a backlash, and heighten contradictions to force opponents to reveal positions. Rather than chase more MPs by moderating its politics, Kumar says the Greens should use confrontation to shift the debate leftward and become an anti-establishment force. “We want to drag [the paradigm] to the left kicking and screaming.” Some commentary on its feasibility here and here along with my observation as to how a strategy of conflict may adversely impact on the well established "local government grant funded project Green Movement" that has existed in many places since the 1980s.
Related to the strategy of conflict is what sort of eco-socialist party should it be: a democratic socialist party to the left of Labour or a more explicitly anti-capitalist party with a detailed political programme reflecting that ambition as this article suggests? More comment on it here.
Some observations here (including mine) on contradictions around its MPs/Grandees, despite knowing the issue was already controversial from the Spring Conference, said little before the debate, but then complained a lot about it after
Some possibility the Party may face an investigation by the EHRC after passing the Greens for Palestine motion. Though some argue it won't happen this time for legal reasons, others say it has a chance of success and more on that here. A lot will depend on any ruling over the rejected amendment, whether anti-Zionism and Zionism are treated equally by the courts, individual cases of conflict but also the behaviour and operation of some of the Greens 250+ organisations. It now looks like Campaign Against Antisemitism has made a formal request for one and the details of that request are set out here and here where they have appointed Derek Spitz KC of One Essex Court, and Beth Grossman of Doughty Street Chambers, of counsel, instructed by Asserson solicitors to support it. The EHRC seems to have now written to the Green Party. More here.
Other legal cases may happen as some of its own members may take it to court following its 2026 Conference decision.
I have posted a thread of more personal observations on the situation in the Green Party after their conference and the Holborn & St Pancras By-election.
Structures Analysis
In view of the Green Party's dominant eco-socialist politics it is probably best to look at the structures from a comparative Labour Left "CLPD ideal" where the party has some similarities but also important differences. In many ways a party that is institutionally one where CLPD's original 1973 Labour Party 3 core demands on Leader/Manifesto/Selections have been implemented. However the lack of whip for elected members means the classic Bennite "take the power" narrative is qualified by a no delegates system, the use of STV in internal elections, a degree of individualism over elected representatives and perhaps a long standing old green anarchist culture/mindset of not wanting too much power?
The recent Conference and Greens for Palestine Motion has flagged a potential conflict within the elements above. Most of party structure encourages consensus (eg STV, and in particular OMOV STV member ballot for the Policy Development Committee, 2/3rd majority for rules, strongish regions, No MP whip) but the policy making at conference allows for 50%+1 majority voting enabling a SIG with an intense issue to perhaps push a single issue policy through. Thus there may be conflicts between consensus v majoritarianism which is explored more in the group/faction section below
Detailed breakdown here:
Leader elected every two years by a member OMOV ballot. They do not have a big office and have one vote at party bodies and no appointment patronage. That might change if the Party elects more MPs and the Leader is always an MP. The Greens currently have an inadvertent separation of powers - see above - between Leader and Parliamentary Leader like the German SPD but whether that would become a sort of approach the Greens would permanently develop or the leadership become more like a Bennite CLPD "take the power" 2015--19 "LOTO" with more MP's can only be a theoretical point at present? I suspect having had eyes opened over how Your Party was launched and the CEC has been run may mean any ex-Lab member rose-tinted spectacles over 2015-19 LOTO competence have declined.
Party Bodies elected by OMOV STV so perhaps much harder for a too narrow a group to win control. which tends to go against CLPD Bennite FPTP "take the power" mindset. Some are elected by a National member ballot and some by conference and the different electorates may exacerbate conflicts?
Party Conference. No delegates as all members can attend and an attempt at participatory democracy based on 1990 membership numbers which may be harder to do with over 200, 000 members - see rules section below for news items on potential reform of the system and even a few thoughts on how change could be achieved.
Party Staff seem to act neutrally in terms of party disputes with the Party having a CEO rather than a General Secretary. Whilst that frame sounds more "capitalist", by not calling the job "General Secretary" (which in TUs and Labour is seen very much in political terms) the Greens have perhaps used a clever term which is actually far more "apolitical" to encourage that sort of staff culture?
Selection of candidates tends to be very local with no national/regional interference so in line with CLPD views
Reselection/Deselection of candidates are broadly a CLPD approach and indeed may be tougher with a 20% trigger. After the Green's for Palestine Motion debate there were some online threats to de-select Green MPs but since the Greens do leave things to local members the chances of locally well dug in hyperactive campaigner incumbents being deselected is likely to be low as even when Labour had an equivalent reselection/deselection system in the 1980s the number of Labour MPs who were deselected was less than 3% each Parliament.
Party Whip. None, so very much non CLPD Bennite "take the power" mindset with dissent allowed as long as party is not misrepresented. It possible some might push to change it, but it would likely require a two-thirds majority and go against the long culture of the Greens
Party Disciplinary Process. Stronger than some might think with quite detailed rules. No CLPD longstanding proposal of a "Party Ombudsman" which might cut across processes and generate more conflict and has not ever been implemented in Your Party or labour's 11 affiliate unions so hard to see CLPD winning that one. How disciplinary processes address some current issues around racism/antisemitism/gender issues will put it to the test in a much larger party. The Green's likely minor levels of entryism by Leninist groups like the AWL will likely be ignored as a minor issue in a much larger party or framed in terms of 1980s Bennite "no enemies on the left"/ soft boundaries/better political education approaches. At this stage unlikely to be seen in terms of "different internationals" (a longstanding issue for Lab back to 1920s) or yet seen as a risk to Green Party Safeguarding Rules due to Leninist Groups having their own disciplinary rules that could come into conflict with main party safeguarding policy as the SWP "Comrade Delta" case (but also WRP, CWI-SPEW, RCI-RCP & AWL cases too) showed the potential risk of.
Party Policy. In effect decided by national committees rather than MPs so a CLPD approach. Like Labour the Party produces a Programme document which national committees then pick issues to go in the manifesto.
Some further analysis of these issues is also covered in the Rules section below
Party Culture
As the following sections show the Greens have had periods of factionalism but have not been as simplistically as factional as Labour. Much of the party culture has been quite consensual perhaps relfecting the Party Green Anarchist "Hippie" traditions? As a result it could means it might be badly equipped to deal with increased factioanlism that may come from a larger membership.
The Bastani Green Conflict Aversity Hypothesis suggests it has created a leadership that is quite conflict adverse. As an overwhelmingly eco-socialist party - see below - this was generally not a problems but a large number of new members used to the more majoritarian factionalism of the Labour Party and the Greens for Palestine motion may have flagged a potential conflict? This is when those advocating an intense issue secure support in the one 50%+1 majoritarian section of the party structure (eg Conference and Policy Making) when much of the rest of the party structure encourages a more consensual approach. Thus those two different elements "conflict averse consensualism" and "majoritarianism" come into conflict. More on that is covered in the Structures section above and the Rules section below.
Significant Groups that are not Special Interest Groups
Some formal autonomous groups that are not Special Interest Groups are listed here. It is quite possible in a more contested political space after 2026 Conference they may act like SIGs in promoting their views:
The Association of Green Councillors (ACG) Less a Special Interest Group and more a practical organising network for over 1,300 sitting Councillors and perhaps a similar number who are working hard to get elected. Now it is at this size it may play a similar role to the ALDC in the Liberal Democrats which is very successful in getting its people elected to party committee making key decisions that impact on their group.
LGA Green Group | Local Government Association Also not a Special Interest Group but with 1,300 Cllrs and in power or coalition a likely increasingly significant group (as publicly funded by LGA) with big overlap with ACG above and operating in a similar way. Only formed in 2026 when Greens crossed 5% threshold from 4.6% to 8.2% to form a Group. Wanting to stay above 5% will now impact on Green internal politics (as senior Cllrs and their staff team won't want the party repuation to damage their increased level of influence) with local election rounds in 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 and a key metric for their overall performance too.
Special Interest Groups
Officially promoted groups
Self-organising internal groups representing specific demographics/equality strand or causes (e.g., Young Greens, Global Majority Greens, Green Party Trade Union Group). Lists here and here and here.
Some analysis of their faction level role is below the listings
Green Party Trade Union Group Most of its focus seems to be on promoting the Party's "Workers Charter" policy - see below. Unlike all the tick box name checking of trade Unions in Your Party, the Greens place less emphasis on trade unions (apart from some Green Leaders showing their face at the TUC) perhaps recognising the TUC with Labour's 11 affiliates having 69% of the TUC Congress vote - see data here - are not going to substantially shift their allegiance. However Green voters are likely pretty strong in non-affiliated to Labour education unions NEU and UCU so maybe they will do more individual TU work with them?
Green Party Women - see also the groups where there is a dispute section below
Global Majority Greens - has received some media coverage over motions it has been promoting so may act to a degree as a faction in the Greens.
LGBTIQA+ Greens - see also the groups where there is a dispute section below
Young Greens These cover up to the age of 29 & now have 50,000 members (22% of Party membership) so may develop as a faction a bit like the Young Liberals operate within the Liberal Democrats? Comparatives here may be Young Labour at 30,000 & Young Conservatives at 15,000 though age ranges of all 3 differ with Labour a younger cut-off and Tories an older one.
Jewish Greens - Some key issues:
Some online coverage over whether their committee elections have shifted their position on the Zionism is Racism motion they opposed in the Spring. In Labour the most up to date narrative of their similar conflicts now is that there was an attempt to take over JLM that failed leading to the formation of JVL. Further unconfirmed claims over conflict in the group are here and also where it seems it will come to a head at their AGM in November.
They have a membership that is - according to their own internal survey published 2nd October 2026 - majority non/anti-Zionist. It was also found that there is strong support among Jewish Greens for the party’s pro-Palestine positions. When asked whether members identify as Zionist, 81% of the 108 responses to this question said no. 70 respondents described themselves as anti-Zionist and 70 as non-zionist, including 45 who answered “yes” to both “are you an anti Zionist” and “are you a non-Zionist.” 71% of anti-Zionist respondents stated that this was an important part of their Jewish identity.
Groups where there is a dispute
There is a conflict over Gender Based Rights and the Supreme Court Ruling with the Party passing on details of some Groups to members but not others
Feminist Greens against the Supreme Court Ruling - promoted by the Party to members
Green Women's Declaration for the Supreme Court Ruling - not promoted by the Party to members
Lesbian Greens for the Supreme Court Ruling - not promoted by the Party to members
Not officially Promoted Groups
Greens for Palestine (G4P) Currently promoting the Zionism is Racism Motion. Facing controversy now over allegations of entryism.
Greens for Peace also at X here - looks like a new group campaigning to reverse the Zionism is Racism Motion
Special Interest Groups as Factions analysis
For all the talk of ideological factionalism it is quite possible in a much larger party with a lot of established interest groups that Identitarian issues will develop stronger factions and supportive closer connected networks than a simple left or right, and simply because it will be hard to identify ideological opponents in the same way as the broader left/right ideological divides in the Labour Party. There already seems to be examples of this "Interest Group Slates" and I will list any here:
Its possible there will be conflicts between the party bureaucracy/establishment (ie an incumbent leadership at any given point whatever its politics) simply because the dynamic of its interest groups pushing for a new more radical positions comes up against its leadership who may want to develop the position in presentational terms more slowly?
Left/Right Factions
History and Current Surveys
Green 2000 - "realo" group who did a lot to develop the Green's constitutional arrangements in an era of debates between "realos" and "fundis" which used to be a 1980s/90s description of right/left politics within emerging Green parties across Europe eg debates about the German Greens.
Association of Socialist Greens - Eco-socialists opposed to Green 2000 which later became the Socialist Green Federation
A very brief history of left wing factions in the Green Party | Derek Wall
Ecosocialism, Ecopopulism and Progressive Environmentalism: The Ideological Currents of the Green Party A useful article describing 3 potential ideological currents: Progressive Environmentalist, Ecopopulist and Ecosocialist. Also a set of slides here.
Current Groups
Green Left A long-established left group established in 2006 with the Headcorn Declaration.
Greens Organise More here A distinct left-wing internal organisation set up in 2025 focused on scaling up political education and campaigning infrastructure.
Most fascinating thing is they are running FPTP elections for exec (Greens are historically culturally usually STV) which would add to the majoritarian v consensus inevitable conflict the inconsistent structures of the party may cause - see above and below.
Interesting comment here that 180 member AWL - see below - is trying to get on Greens Organise Exec as part of a slate in a FPTP election which would make sense based on their past interventions in Momentum where they ran separately in their own slate in its STV elections. Same feed also claims James Schneider, who may still be in Your Party, was involved in setting up Greens Organise which could mean giving advice to people from Momentum experience or more? However there is no confirmation of either point from anyone else at this stage. so just an interesting comment at this stage.
A slightly different slate, though there is overlap because 21 running for 12 places, seems to be backed by prominant G4P supporters.
Alliance for Workers Liberty Reconnaissance in the Greens. AWL a 180 member Leninist Group is conducting an organised reconnaissance in the Greens (a sort of light, lower commitment form of entryism practiced by Trotskyist Leninist Groups) on top of remaining interventions in campaigns at the edge of Labour Party and perhaps nowadays to a lesser degree in Your Party.
Ideological Factional Analysis
Russell Warfield in his book "The Green Socialist" argues that the Green Party has been "watermelon" red-green eco-socialist for at least 10 years. I would agree (as does former member Darren Johnson's in his comment below) and suggest what was already its largest group for a long-time has become even more dominant since the 2008 crash and 2010/11 student protests. It can also be seen in the membership shifts below between Labour and the Greens in the 2015-2024 period.
The now (perhaps cul de sac?) of the Corbyn era and its 5 year relitigating aftermath obscured this until the Greens had a 2025 85%-15% ballot (ironically between candidates who probably agreed 90%+ on policy). This may have sent a key "signal" to a wider number of people that the party was "the right one to join" after Labour's post 2021 "institutional turn" (see Labour Dashboard) and chaotic Your Party launch (with 800,000 showing initial "interest") reinforced by the core Corbyn team later narrowing Your Party with its massive CEC rows - see YP Aggregator. As I say in my introduction a greater percentage of people who may see "my political party as how I express my politics" may explain what some might see as "flitting" between parties until people have perhaps finally settled on the Greens?
However the above history might also suggest that membership level of institutionalised and instrumentalist commitment is low so a big row/split could see people up sticks in protest at something? Whether the Greens build institutionalised induction anchors to retain members is an issue that is of great interest to the aims of this website,
As for any party "right" there is not really anything outside the dynamic of any existing Leadership/Staff/establishment ocasionally resisting the speed of new more radical reformulations of policy from its interest groups as mentioned above. However the level of kick-back the party may now get from the media, organisations and voters over the Greens for Palestine motion may see some level of network ranging across MPs/Grandees and supporters, the Association of Green Councillors, Young Greens (some perhaps thinking of their own political future), and more tradtional Green Special Interest groups banding together to make some small rules changes to reduce one or other special interest group pushing just one policy whether through delegate conferences elements or more OMOV. This in the end may be less organised ideological right and more constitutional moderation for a specific purpose?
More widely in the party from a number of anecdotal cases I have picked up any actual party "right" such as it exists in minor form is more rural and suburban (and thus far smaller than the now more urban membership) and seems less focused on issues such as Palestine and more on local issues. As a result its unlikely to seek to win control of the party and as long as the urban majority leave it alone it is likely simply to continue with its local activity (focusing more on winning Councillors) under the Green branding especially those areas where the Lib Dems are weaker. In the unlikely event the eco-socialist majority did try to heavily impose things on it those people would simply decamp to the Lib Dems or become localist Independents, so will probably be left alone.
If I have a current long-term speculative view/hypothesis at present it would be the Greens are now at a "critical mass" in terms of elected representatives in a fragmented stronger multi-values 5+ party system to likely remain as a bigger 4%-14% party with a largish more expressive membership, whilst Labour will also remain as the larger (due to its MP/Cllr/TU base) more instrumentalist party? At the same time when the current "Core Corbyn LOTO" Leadership running Your Party retire at some point in the early 2030s, Zarah Sultana (or similar) will likely take over what remains of Your Party and that will remain as a more explictly anti-capitalist ideological subset, especially also on some international/anti-imperialist "Global Issues". Also the WPB under George Galloway or successor will remain as a small but more explicitly pro-Russia/Iran/China anti-woke subset too (a bit like the German BSW?). Thus there will be strong differences between people across a now larger range of political parties that most briefly tried to cohabit within the Labour Party in 2015-19. However the data here , especially the 20+ GB PR elections evidence over the last 25 years, Short Money incentives to stand a near full PPC slate & now large local parties increasing SoPN metric full Council slates, means the Greens will likely be the overwhelmingly dominant force among left of Labour parties.
Another thing to flag which is not covered elsewhere, is the Greens may still have a significant number of members who may see themselves as "Lifestyle Greens" committed to a low impact to almost off-grid lifestyle, who may well hold radical ideological views but in the the end most identify through their lifestyle decisions. This may have been a larger percentage group when the party was new and small, but may now be a smaller subset of a much larger, perhaps more mainstream party?
AI generated broad brush ideological description - to be edited
Note: I inserted this AI note below as it seemed like a useful explanation of broad ideological positions (perhaps more dominating different special interest groups above) as opposed to explicit factions. Former senior Green Darren Johnson who understands the party very well says: I think of the three ideological factions you list (red-green, mangoes, deep greens) only the first had any real organised presence and beyond that things were very, very fluid. All the evidence I have seen is the eco-socialist wing has been strong and apart from perhaps Green 2000 - see above - and activist in the focused from the 2010s onward on building a Councillor base there has not been an organised right-wing of the Greens.
AI Text below
Internal factions within the UK Green parties (specifically the Green Party of England and Wales and the Scottish Greens) generally fall along ideological, strategic, and geographic lines. As the parties have transitioned from small environmental pressure groups into mainstream electoral forces, distinct camps have emerged. [1]
1. The "Watermelons" (Eco-Socialists)
The Concept: "Green on the outside, red on the inside." [1]
Ideology: This faction views environmental destruction as a direct consequence of capitalism. They argue that climate justice cannot be achieved without radical economic redistribution, higher taxes on wealth, and public ownership of major industries and utilities. [1]
Presence: This is the dominant ideological force in both parties. Within the Green Party of England and Wales, they are represented by formal internal groupings like Green Left. In the Scottish Greens, the Green Futures Group successfully pushed the party to formally back building a democratic eco-socialist system in 2021. Many members of this faction joined from the left-wing of the Labour Party. [1, 2, 3]
2. The "Deep Greens" (Ecological Purists)
The Concept: "Green all the way through." [1]
Ideology: The oldest faction in the movement, Deep Greens focus almost entirely on environmental science, conservation, and systemic ecological survival over traditional left-right economic politics. They tend to be more prevalent in rural or suburban branches. [1, 2]
Tensions: Elements of this faction sometimes lean socially conservative or Malthusian compared to the highly progressive leadership. Under recent leadership shifts—such as the election of Zack Polanski as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales—some older Deep Greens have expressed frustration that the party has become too bogged down in urban cultural issues and radical economic stances at the expense of pure environmentalism. [1, 2]
3. The "Mangoes" (Progressive Liberals)
The Concept: "Green on the outside, orange on the inside." [1]
Ideology: Heavily influenced by former Liberal Democrats, this group prioritises constitutional reform, electoral alliances, proportional representation, and civil liberties. [1, 2]
Strategy: They generally favour a pragmatic approach to politics, advocating for environmental solutions within a regulated market framework rather than dismantling capitalism entirely. [1]
Outside the Party Groups
Greens in Exile are a group of long-serving Green Party of England and Wales members who claim they have been forced out of the party through suspension, expulsion or resignation and set out the reasons on their website, which still takes an active interest in Green Party internal affairs such as internal elections
Sympathetic Think Tanks
Some may have no direct connection with the party
Green House Think Tank formed in 2011
Verdant formed in 2026. This does claim to be linked to the Greens.
Green Focused Media
Green World The Party official online publication which replaced its Members Magazine of the same name
Novara Media Of the main Alt-Media sites Novara is broadly sympathetic to the Greens having been pro-Labour in the Corbyn era but not a formal supporter
Bright Green Space for online articles about the Green party though some of its people have been in the past been active in Labour for a Green New Deal.
Green Elects - seems to be having some issues at the moment & its founder seems to have left the Party after 2026 Green Conference.
Greens Assemble focused on Green party member projects
Tribune Having now cut its historic links with Labour to act in a more broad left manner it is giving the Greens a lot of coverage
The Grain, a Magazine for eco-socialist debate Potential new Green eco-socialist discussion magazine
Do let me know if I have missed any key sites?
Media Analysis
Green's nearest thing to an independent party news source like Conservative Home, Labour List and Lib Dem Voice is Bright Green.
There seems no factional publications like left Labour publications/websites or the Lib Dem Liberator.
Green Party England and Wales Membership
Quick Analysis of the data below
Green membership has only become a significant in just over the last decade. Until as recently as 2013 the Green party membership was small averaging at most 22 members per constituency despite its concentration in some places.
Then in 2014-15 it surged to over 60,000. I noticed it in the aftermath of the Scottish Independence Referendum when SNP membership also surged too as if the Independence 45% vote had a wider UK radicalising effect? It was so significant I came up with my Party as a Platform/Party as a Gateway hypothesis.
However the surge was short-lived and the election of Jeremy Corbyn saw an exodus to Labour and it fell back but only as low as 39,000.
But when Brexit ambiguity afflicted the Corbyn leadership it soon rose back to over 50,000 in 2019 possibly picking up another 5,000 ex-Lab after the election of Keir Starmer and further 5,000 rise before the 2024 General Election. Even before the election of Zack Polanski it has risen a further 9,000 under the Starmer Govenment.
How much Zack Polanski drove the membership rise is something to explore more, but I also suspect the 800,000 signing up for more information at the disastrous launch of Your Party became a sort of prefigurative moment where people decided "what should I do next?" After Your party had big splits between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana and the Greens with their now expanded base of over 60,000 were ready for when some of the 800,000 then chose them instead. In other words Zack Polanski was possibly not the direct inspirational story driver (ie "I was inspired by Jeremy Corbyn" prophet in the wilderness narrative of 2015-17) but more a "signal" with an 85% election result that the Green Party was a comfortable "safe space" (ie it did not have a minimum 38% opposition that Labour would have) to join after the Your Party launch failed.
In many ways the fluctuations of Green membership since 2013 from 14,000 up to 63,000 ,down to 39,000, back up to 68,000 and now up to 220,000-228,000 is an incredibly useful trend metric indeed for how people have related to other parties (mainly Labour but also perhaps Your Party) and for the levels of platform/expressiveness and perhaps in future how well networked or even semi-institutionalised it gets?
Having risen over 150,000 in the last year the membership rise seems to have slowed (indeed new data below suggests a recent 2,000-10,000 drop) and a big question based on past Green and other party membership behaviour and some controversies around the Greens and the rise of power of Andy Burnham, is will we now see them drop back a bit in the coming months, though its quite likely they will stay above 200,000?
Useful sources
Party Membership Data - General Points
Most parties tend to have two key figures: "Paid Up Membership" and "Total Membership" comprising Paid Up membership and Members in Arrears. Parties tend to publish the latter larger number including arrears
Assuming most parties use internal elections to reduce arrears Paid Up members tend to have voting rights in ballots whilst those is arrears do not
In the Green Leader election result announcement of 2025 the Greens claimed 68,500 members yet only 64,581 had a vote so its likely 5.8% were in arrears. 3-6% is about standard nowadays when most Parties membership is recruited to continuous payment schemes, though Labour's arrears did rise to 8%-11% in 2021 when a lot of members resigned.
The data below should therefore be assumed to be a Total membership including Paid Up and also those in Arrears.
Here are also links with comparative data for the Labour Party and Your Party so one can track rises and falls which do show that party's have impacted on each other.
Annual Membership Figure
I have underlined years of significant advance and written some notes on changes in some years
1972: Party founded. Membership was under 500 for most of the decade.
1977: 400
1978: 650
1979: 5000. Membership rose from 650 to 5,000 after the General Election when it ran 53 candidates and had a Party Political Broadcast
1982: 3,000
1980s: Membership rose in later Thatcher era to 7,500 after Chernobyl and CFCs become issues and the Poll Tax where the party was active in the campaign
1990: 19,000. Membership rose to 11,000 after the party rise to 15% in the 1989 Euro-Elections and up to around 19,000
1992: 6,500. Membership had dropped back after the Party could not process its surge & David Icke's 6 month high level involvement made the party look like cranks.
1995: 3,500. Membership continued to drop and at the start of the New Labour era was down to 3,500
1990s It was 5,000 members between 1998 and 2002. Despite winning MEPs, and London Assembly seats (&MSPs in Scotland), membership did not rise much
2002: 5,268
2003: 5,858
2004: 6,281
2005: 7,110 - Membership up 1,900 from 2002 perhaps from people leaving Labour to join the Greens over the Iraq War?
2006: 7,019
2007: 7,441
2008: 7,553
2009: 9,630
2010: 12,768 - First full MP elected
2011: 12,842
2012: 12,619
2013: 13,809
2014: 30,900 - The Green Surge. This and the next year are significant with it noticeable most after the Scottish Indy Ref which featured the rise of online "Cyber Nats"
2015: 63,219 - The Green Surge. Again significant & pre-dated surge of members into Labour for 2015 Leader election & first told me of a significant change in behaviour
2016: 45,643 - Lots leave to likely join Labour. Membership in London dropped from 12,000 to 6,000 between 2015 and 2016.
2017: ?
2018: 39,350
2019: 50,000 - Lots Leave Labour to rejoin the Greens over Labour's Brexit Ambiguity?
2020: ? Covid Lockdowns
2021: 54,306 - Some Leave Labour to rejoin Greens over Labour's change of Leadership?
2022: 53,126
2023: 53,000?
2024: 59,000. Perhaps written out of the history in the Polanski era (aided by Corbyn/Sultana self-destruct) is memberhsip rose 15,000 & won 4 MPs in 2023-25
2025: 68,500. The figure 64,581 was the total electorate for the leadership election - see arrears point at start of this section.
2026: 220,000? - The Post Polanski Win membership surge. A number given in June so may suggest it has plateaued? See more below
Current Membership Number
This now looks to have been declining since June 2026 and the change in Labour Leadership, which bearing in mind - see above - it has followed to a degree in Labour party popularity abd unpoularity with activist types is perhaps no surprise. Athe same time the number below is likely to come more into the news after the passing of the Greens for Palestine motion as its supporters might hope it leads to some joining but also the media and political opponents may be looking for signs of decline a bit like there was in Labour in 2018-19 but which was not fully reported at the time - see all Labour membership data here.
Thus the best thing to do is to simply report all the claims and any official references to the number which are simply listed below in date order.
Latest News on Green Party of England Wales Membership
March 2026: 200,000
April 2026: 226,000 - an official figure
May 2026: 230,000
June 2026; 230,000
Oct 2026: claims of 220,000, also mentioned here too and 228,000 If confirmed this wd be a pre-conference 10k drop in Burnham era & not related to conference arguments
Oct 2026: claims of a 4,400 drop in membership which based on the 220k figure above might suggest 216,000
Oct 2026: An alternative claim of 240,000 members by Ellie Chowns MP.
Example Local Green Party Membership rises 2025 to 2026
I will add more as I find them to help with regional membership estimates
North East
Darlington 167 to 400
Stockton and Hartlepool now 500
Gateshead now 750
Yorkshire and Humberside
York 468 to 1,457
Leeds now 1,000
Doncaster 259 to 544
Sheffield 1,332 to 4,059
Wakefield now 550
Bradford 454 to 1,402
Hull and East Riding 300 to 900
North West
St Helens 70 to 355
Manchester 900 to 4,500
Wigan 132 to 704
Hyndburn now 170
Sefton now 600
West Midlands
Worcester 235 to 518
Coventry now 650
East Midlands
East Midlands Region - 13,000 - see here.
North Northamptonshire 311 to 1020
Nottinghamshire 675 to 2,307
Lincoln 200 to 700
Eastern
Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire 800 to 2100
Breckland now 304
Norwich now 1,000
Southend now 600
Welwyn Hatfield 100 to 315
South West
Bristol now 5,000
Cheltenham 176 to 588
Swindon 150 to 600
South East
Brighton 1,800 to 3,448
Oxford City 400 to 1,200
Worthing 183 to 658
West Berkshire 182 to 516
Dartford now 220
Shepway now 500
London
Islington 700 to 1,789 Note: this compares to 623 in Islington Your Party - see data on YP Aggregator & suggests the Greens may see themselves as successors to Corbyn?
Barnet 446 to 1,059
Bromley 390 to 1,260
Redbridge 127 to 655
Lewisham now 2,000
2025/2026 Green Membership Surge
See my introduction and the ideological/factional analyisis points above for some of my current views on this
Article in The Guardian.
2014/2015 Green Surge
This deserves more research as it happened after the Scottish Independence Referendum and before the 2015 Labour Leadership membership rise and suggested a change in online driven behaviour. It was noticeable to me at the time and led to my Feb 2015 "Party as a "Platform" to express views versus Party as a "Gateway" to be inducted into hypothesis which later dovetailed into expressive v instumentalist research/segmentation and also now low instutionalised "Hyperpolitics" current narratives:
Covers Separate Scottish and Northern Ireland Green Parties as Welsh Greens and GPEW English Regions
Note: Because the Green party within the current jurisdiction of the United Kingdom has 3 separate Green parties (ie GPEW, Scottish Greens, NI Greens) this website will look at them all. At present the early focus is on the GPEW because that is by far the largest and currently most in the news. Also the website interest in where the 550k 2015/16 Lab members ended up most impacts on GPEW due to historic party membership spread in Scotland and NI (ie Lab did not grow as much in Scotland in 2015/16 due to some who might have joined likely going to the SNP). However as it develops separate full sections will be developed for the Scottish Greens and NI Greens.
Scotland
Note: Separated from GPEW in 1990 as did NI Greens in 1990 - see below.
Co-Leaders: The party is co-led by Gillian Mackay and Ross Greer,
15 MSPs
Scottish Parliament List Vote Share 2026: 14%
32 Councillors
Membership
2014: 5,000
2015: 9,001
2021: 7,500
2023: 7,646
2025: 8,279 rising to 9,000
2026: 10,000
Northern Ireland
Note: In its current form from 1990 when it separated from GPEW. Since 2006, the party has operated as a region of the 3,200 member Green Party of Ireland
Leader: Mal O'Hara
Deputy Leader: Lesley Veronica
Northern Ireland Assembly Election Vote Share 2022: 2%
5 Councilors
No local parties listed - so may operate more as a NI wide organisation
Membership
2015: 322
2020: 700-800
Wales
Note: this is a part of Green Party of England and Wales as a semi-autonomous Nation Unit operating within the GPEW structure
Leader: Anthony Slaughter (led since 2018)
Co-Deputy Leaders: Phil Davies and Linda Rodgers. Phil Davies looks to have quit the party citing a lack of support from the national party and the G4P Motion.
2 Welsh Senedd members: Anthony Slaughter (Caerdydd Penarth) and Paul Rock (Caerdydd Fynnon Taf)
Welsh Senedd Election Vote Share 2026: 7%
14 Councillors
Membership
2018: 1,500
2023; 1,800
2024: 2,006
2025: 6,000
2026: 8,000 - interestingly proportionately now bigger than the Scottish Greens in comparison to population
England's Regions
The 9 English Regions have Regional Bodies of which the following is of note:
London Green Party is the largest Region with roughly 40,000 members 17% of GPEW members and 17% of UK wide Green members.
London Greens Produce a London Mayor Manifesto
Links to all the Regional Parties as well as to the 281 Local Parties are below
A Green Party Regional Membership Distribution Rough Estimate
If we include the Welsh National membership at 3% and East Midlands at 6% with London on 17% we have data on 26% of the nation/regional distribution of GPEW. Using the branch data we have seen and comparisons with Labour Party, Coop Party and Your Party we can make the following approximate estimates of Green Regional membership distribution with confirmed data in bold. I also flag for larger Regions some cities/towns where Green membership is known to be larger/more active as well as give links for Local Parties in each region. This estimate is not definitive and will be subject to more revision as I collect more data.
London - 17% 40,000 - has eastern half of London with many 2024 runner up spot seats - 32 Local Parties
South East - 14% 32,000 - has Brighton and Oxford - 50 Local Parties
North West -13% 30,000 - has Greater Manchester - 36 Local Parties
South West - 13% 30,000 - has Bristol - this region may be overstated? - 32 Local Parties
Yorkshire/Humber - 11% 25,000 - has Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford - 20 Local Parties
Eastern - 10% 23,000 - has Cambridge and Norwich - 39 Local Parties
West Midlands - 7% 16,000 - 28 Local Parties
East Midlands - 6% 13,000 - 22 Local Parties
North-East - 6% 13,000 - 10 Local Parties
Wales - 3% 8,000 - 12 Local Parties
If anyone has any other Green Regional data, let me know and I will add and adjust the above data accordingly.
Regional Estimates of other parties that are set out below for comparison
Labour Party
Nations/Regional Distribution of the Labour Membership in CLPs
London - 22% (+1)
North West -12%
South East - 12% (+2)
Yorkshire/Humber - 9%
West Midlands - 7% (-1)
Eastern - 8%
Scotland - 5% (-2)
East Midlands - 7%
Wales - 5% (-1)
South West - 8% (+2)
North - East - 5% (-1)
Coop Party
A useful comparator with Labour is the is it's sister Party, the Cooperative Party. It's 2026 Nations/Regional breakdown is very similar pretty much confirming the most recent Labour breakdown:
London - 20%
North West -13%
South East - 12%
Yorkshire/Humber - 8%
East Midlands - 8%
Eastern - 8%
South West - 8%
West Midlands - 7%
Scotland - 6%
Wales - 5%
North - East & North Cumbria- 5%
By comparison with Labour, the Coop Party also had a big rise from 2015 to 2018, then a drop and a further rise up until 2021 when it reached record numbers for its history. Though there has been a small drop it is small compared to Labour's recent changes and recently seems to have risen again to over 13,000 members.
Your Party
Regional Membership Breakdown
Final Country Totals:
England — 46,717 - 89%
Scotland — 3,913 - 7%
Wales — 2,547 - 5%
Northern Ireland — 327 - 1%
Total - 53,504
Totals per English Region: (Total number - National % - English %)
London — 8,204 members - 15% - 18%
South East — 7,172 members - 13% - 15%
North West — 6,767 members - 13% - 14%
South West — 6,210 members - 12% - 13%
East of England — 4,488 members - 8% - 10%
West Midlands — 4,383 members - 8% - 9%
Yorkshire and the Humber — 4,329 members - 8% - 9%
East Midlands — 3,108 members - 6% - 7%
North East — 1,856 members - 3% - 4%
Total England: 46,717 members - 89% - 100%
Internal Elections
Some elections are by members in an OMOV ballot, some by conference attendees. These are shown below. It is possible if there is a consensus v majoritarian conflict the differning franchises migth for a while exacerbate things? However all being STV elections may make it harder for one single group to secure a dominant position.
OMOV Ballots of Members
Leader and Deputy Leader(s) or Co Leaders;
GPEx Chair and Co-Ordinators;
8 Ordinary Members of GPEx
Any casual vacancies occurring for any of these posts that are notified to the ERO before the opening of nominations;
Any two-year terms posts that have been subjected to the members' nominated re-election requirement as defined in 9 (v) and 9 (vii) below.
36 Members of The Green Party Council with regional caps
Policy Development Committee
Elections of Reps by Conference
National Committees
Campaigns Committee
Equalities & Diversity Committee
Green World Editorial Board
International Committee
Trade Union Liaison Committee
Disciplinary Committees
Disciplinary Committee
Alternative Disputes Resolution Committee
Conference Committees
Conferences Committee
Standing Orders Committee
Past Results:
Current Elections covered on News Page
Analysis
A thing to note with the Greens is whilst their "second order" (eg executive committee places) election turnout is similar to other parties/trade unions their "first order" (eg Leader/Deputy Leaders) election turnouts have been much lower than other major parties (who tend to get 50%-75%), generally averaging 25% and only rising to 38% (+16% on 2021) in the most recent 2025 election. This may reflect a decentralised anti-leadership mindset among some members reflecting it's past "co-spokesperson" arrangements for the party?
This covers the Constitution and Rules of the Greens in England and Wales
Core Rules Documents and Webpages
Constitution - Green Party Also here is the most up to date version in Pdf format This includes its consitution but also bye-laws. It has rules for how the Party functions and sets out its structures at national, regional and local level - see also above - but also includes bye-laws covering selection of Parliamentary Candidates and Selection for nomination to the House of Lords
Guidance Notes
Conference Procedural Rules
Current Disciplinary Issues
Statement Regarding False Claims About a Member Suspension This likely relates to the Eleanora Folan "Stats for Lefties" case
The Green for Palestine Motion mover associations and possible statements.
Future Rules Change
Zack Polanski has said after 2026 Autumn Conference: "our party has grown to a size none of us could have anticipated when I became leader. Our party democracy must now evolve to meet that – creating wider engagement for members, giving leaders more responsibility to set the party’s strategic direction, and making our processes as robust and accessible as possible." Further reporting on the issue is here. This echoes comments by Deputy Leader Rachel Millward so sounds pretty official and some proposal may be coming to the party conference in due course. Some experienced party activists who know the rules has expressed some scepticism over the lack of clarity as to what is meant.
Useful explanation on how all member ballots can change constitutional rules
Other options on Ballots on Motion where the 21 month rule does not apply - see also Policy Making section below with links on reviewing policy.
Discussions currently ccontinuing over a package of policy making changes which could include use of Citizen Juries, wider member consultations & surveys, member online ballots and allowing more flexibility for motions to be amended (rather than changing the ability to reverse time period) more quickly. It is possible this may need an enabling constituional amendment to allow some things to happen quickly , though some elements sound "informal" enough that they in effect act as more as an "intention to conduct a review" in the period before the current rules allow a policy to be reviewed.
Rule 10.vii) of Party Rules says: Conference may by a two-thirds majority grant Green Party Council exceptional powers in defined areas of policy, campaign strategy or administration for a specified period of time. It will be interesting is this is proposed to enable the Green Party Council within parameters set by conference to resolve some of the issues/conflicts above?
See more commentary in the Structures Analysis above, the Rules Analysis below and the current Policy Making process section below.
Key Points on Green Party Rules
The Philosophical Basis of the Party may be changed only by a two-thirds majority at Conference or by a two thirds majority vote of the membership through a party-wide ballot.
The Constitution may be revised by a two thirds majority vote, at an Annual Conference or an Extraordinary Party Conference called by an Annual Conference in a resolution explicitly delegating this power.
The Constitution may also be revised by a two thirds majority vote of the membership through a party-wide ballot. Such a ballot will be initiated by an Annual Conference in a resolution explicitly delegating this power. Such a resolution may only be proposed in advance of an Annual Conference through the normal First Agenda process. A simple majority at Conference will be required to pass the motion to initiate the ballot.
Membership is open to any person who subscribes to the object of the Party, and is not already a member of another political party, other than Green Parties abroad.
The Green Party Council shall have the power to expel or suspend any person from membership and/or refuse membership to any person for a specified period if in its opinion it is in the Party's interest to do so. Where necessary to avoid or reduce the likelihood of further harm to the Party, a member under investigation may be suspended temporarily by decision of the Council or those members of it empowered to act on its behalf while that takes place, but no member may be expelled without proper consideration. The Local Party shall not offer Associate Membership to any person who has been expelled from or refused membership of the Green Party.
No member may be elected to the same post or sit on the same body for more than 5 terms consecutively, nor be a member of the Green Party Council for more than 3 terms consecutively.
All elections in the Green Party shall be conducted by the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representation. Elections for single seats are instant run-off (AV) and multiple seats by STV
The Leader and Deputy Leader(s) or Co-Leaders shall be elected every two years.
There is no whip for elected members. Elected members and other representatives have a responsibility to promote the policies of the national and local green parties, as expressed in the PSS and national, regional and local manifestos. Where they do not agree with Party policy and publicly state their own position, they should at the same time state and explain the position of the Green Party.
A ballot on whether to de-select a Parliamentary candidate will be held if a petition demanding one is supported by at least 20% of the Party members in the territory originally balloted. The result of that ballot shall be decided by a simple majority of votes cast.
Green members of the House of Lords are on an appointment list elected by Green party members
Members who express opinions in a situation in which their membership of the Green Party is known must take care to not bring the party into disrepute.
Major elaborations of policy shall be considered as Policy Statements by Green Party Council in accordance with its Standing Orders. When such policy statements are approved they shall be published in the Party's 'Record of Policy Statements' (RoPS).
The contents of manifestos for Westminster elections shall be considered as Policy Statements by the Green Party Council. The final editing and presentation of such manifestos shall be the responsibility of the Elections Co-ordinator.
Rules Analysis
In many ways a party that is institutionally one where CLPD's original 1973 Labour Party proposals on Leader/Manifesto/Selections have been implemented (no Party Ombudsman though!!:). However the lack of whip for elected members means the classic Bennite "take the power" narrative is qualified by the use of STV in internal elections, a degree of individualism over elected representatives and perhaps a long mindset of not wanting too much power? See more above on Party Structure analysis.
Two-thirds majorities for the constitution is likely to ensure institutional stability, but also may mean slower change when a majority realise they do need to change the rules a little in response to a large influx of new members.
Disciplinary rules are actually quite strong and clearly the party can and will expel members for bringing it into "disrepute" like other parties. However it is possible its disciplinary panels may have a high threshold for when its "reputation" is damaged than other parties?
Membership is open to anyone "who is not already a member of another political party, other than Green Parties abroad" so it formally discourages entryism which has generally not been an issue for Green parties compared to the Leninist Party attempted interventions in Labour from 1922 to 2022 . However it is possible that may change and the Alliance for Workers Liberty Reconnaissance in the Greens may be the start of a new evolution on UK Leninist Party's taking more interest in the Greens as they reinforce their electoral dominance in the Left of Labour political space. How they handle that compared to Labour's generally strong and mostly consistent rejection of such parties will be interesting to observe with a range of options such as ignoring it due to possible continued small size impact, political platform recognition, or setting clear boundaries.
The Greens pride themselves on direct democracy/participatory democracy (ie no delegate conference) and that clearly worked for many years as a smaller party, but now it is much larger it is perhaps understandable that at least some in the party are looking at a rules revamp that may impact on who can vote at conference. After the recent Greens for Palestine motion this may have more urgency and also lead to a lot of political conflict as some sides push change and some defend the current system. One MP has already called for a conference delegate voting system. Since these websites hopefully demonstrate I am a big fan of very open "Penn & Teller" explain the tricks politics, I've even set out here how a minimalist set of "ensure diversity/stop any intense 1,000 dominating a party of over 200,000" proposals could be run as a campaign in the Party. Minor tweaks that could reinforce its "CLPDish but give power away consensus" processes without having a delegate system could include 2/3rds majority for inclusion of policy in the Party Programme, more member OMOV ballots, or even "temporal sortition" where anyone attending an open to all members conference to cast a vote could not for next one or two subsequent conferences thus halving/thirding the influence of any single intense group, encouraging the party to ensure attendance of more voices and forcing more consensus/coalition building on groups? See more analysis in the Strcutures section above, and Policy Making section below.
An issue that relates to the previous one is how they filter/prioritise policy-making at their conference - see also the section below on that. The Labour Party has a two stage filter which involves 683 organisations (eg 651 CLPs, 11 TUs 21 Socialist Societies) having policy submission rights followed by delegate prioitisation by conference delegates in two sections (eg 651 CLPs in one and 11 TUs & 21 Socialist Societies in the other). The Greens seem to have a one stage filter of members voting in an online ballot on motion prioritisation. Due to relatively low turnout in such member ballots that may mean well-organised party interest groups - see organisations/factions section above - can get a subject which may have low salience to most other members near the top of the agenda?
The manifesto is in effect decided by national committees rather than MPs. Like Labour the Party produces a Programme document which national committees then pick issues to go in the manifesto.
A Quick Rules Summary - AI generated but being edited
1. Membership Rules & Restrictions
Exclusivity: No Green Party member may be a candidate for any other political party. Similarly, members of other parties cannot stand as Green candidates, except in designated joint candidacies. [1]
No Independent Runs: Members are prohibited from running as independent candidates against an officially selected Green Party candidate. [1]
Campaigning Restrictions: Members cannot actively campaign for any candidate running against a properly selected Green representative. [1]
Suspension & Expulsion: The Green Party Council holds the ultimate power to suspend, expel, or refuse membership to anyone if it is deemed in the best interest of the party. [1]
2. The Code of Conduct
All members and volunteers must adhere to the Green Party Members Code of Conduct, which forms part of the national disciplinary framework: [1]
Public Communications: Public messaging and social media use must uphold Green values. Public criticism of other party members, staff, or internal party decisions is explicitly forbidden to protect the party from disrepute. [1, 2]
Disclosures: Members running for internal office or public election must disclose anything in their personal history or past opinions that could potentially bring the party into disrepute. [1]
3. Democratic Governance Structure
The party functions as a decentralized, member-led democracy: [1]
The Party Conference: The Autumn and Spring Conferences serve as the supreme decision-making forum. All paid-up members have the right to attend, debate, and vote on internal policy and constitutional adjustments. [1]
Voting Systems: Internal elections for executive roles, councils, and committees are decided using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) proportional system with a "Re-Open Nominations" (RON) option. [1]
The Leadership Structure: The party elects either a single Leader and Deputy Leaders, or Co-Leaders who serve as the public faces of the party. Day-to-day operations are handled by the Green Party Executive (GPEx), while long-term strategy is steered by the Green Party Council (GPRC). [1]
4. Ethical Donation & Financial Rules
The party maintains strict financial guidelines governed by its Ethical Donations Policy: [1]
Acceptable Funding: Funding is proactively sought from organizations aligned with Green principles, such as renewable energy, fair trade, organic farming, ethical banking, and workers' co-operatives.
Prohibited Funding: The party completely rejects donations or advertising revenue from industries tied to fossil fuels, aviation, nuclear power, arms manufacturing, tobacco, animal testing, and genetically modified foods. [1]
(Note: The separate Scottish Green Party and Green Party Northern Ireland operate entirely under their own independent rulebooks, leadership teams, and constitutional frameworks.) [1]
Finances
Analysis
One thing that may become of political interest is the Greens may receive more large donations from wealthy individuals which no doubt they will tranparently declare. However this may make Green party membera a bit uncomfortable when criticising other parties, so will they end up setting a "maximum donation cap to minimise risk of political influence" for their internal donation policy?
Green Party Policy
Wales and London Policy Manifestos - see above
Green Party Policy Making
Green Party Conference Agenda - a SOC collation of motions
A useful thread on the policy making process along with another useful one here and here.
Current impact of the Zionism is Racism policy as recorded by the Green party policy archive
Key Policy Making Points
Conference is the supreme forum of the Green Party. All paid-up members of the Green Party are eligible to attend and vote.
Policy vote decisions are by a simple majority
The Green Party’s Policies for a Sustainable Society (PSS) represents the policy foundation which the Party stands upon. Every policy in the PPS has been approved by Green Party members at Conference. All Green Party Manifestos and the Political Programme are drawn from the PSS. The PSS can be amended by members at each Party Conference.
The Policy Development Committee works to help members submit policy proposals.
Policy Working Groups are open to all members of the Green Party to discuss and develop policy on various topics. Policy Working Groups, and others intending to propose new policy, are encouraged to contact the Policy Development Committee to follow the accreditation process.
Policy Fests are events organised by the Policy Development Committee with the aim of advancing party policy development and helping members understand how the process works.
Analysis
The manifesto is in effect decided by national committees rather than MPs. Like Labour the Party produces a Programme document which national committees then pick issues to go in the manifesto.
The Party policy system was designed for a 6,500 member party, but may need to review it's single stage filter, voting systems even it wants to retain being a participaty democracy rather than a delegate democracy over policy - see more in the Party Democratic Structures and Rules sections above
Clearly there are some conversations going on about that here and here. See more analysis in the Structures and Rules sections above.
A Quick Policy Summary - AI generated but being edited
Core policies on environmental protection, a larger state-led economy, and social justice. [1, 2, 3]
Environment and Climate
Net Zero & Energy: Rapid transition to renewable energy by ending new fossil fuel licenses, insulating homes, and nationalizing energy companies.
Nature Act: Protecting 30% of UK land and seas for nature recovery and wildlife protection. [1, 2, 3]
Economy and Tax
Taxing Wealth: Implementing a wealth tax on multi-millionaires, equalizing capital gains tax with income tax, and introducing carbon and land value taxes. [1, 2]
Public Spending: Borrowing to invest in public services and infrastructure, alongside nationalizing water and rail. [1]
Workplace Reforms: Raising the minimum wage to £15 per hour, introducing a four-day working week, and repealing restrictive trade union laws. [1]
Housing and Public Services
Housing: Building 150,000 new council homes a year, introducing rent controls, and ending no-fault evictions and the Right to Buy scheme.
NHS: Reversing privatization in the health service and guaranteeing access to NHS dentists. [1]
Democracy and Foreign Policy
Electoral Reform: Replacing the first-past-the-post voting system with proportional representation and lowering the voting age to 16.
Foreign Policy & Defense: Dismantling the Trident nuclear deterrent while keeping the UK in NATO, and pushing for an immediate ceasefire and arms embargo related to the conflict in Gaza. [1, 2, 3]
Training and Induction
Training 2026 - Green Party - Conference Training
Analysis
This looks to be poor as focused on training for campaigners but little for year long induction of the 150,000 new members so far showing the party has not learned from the mistakes made by Labour when it had an influx of 300,000 members. Labour has significantly improved its training offer at Labour Learn but both parties could do even more in institutional induction into the culture and social norms of long-standing organisations.
History
Green Party (UK) Pre-1990 Party History
The first Green councillor breakthrough and the founding of the AGC
Electoral Performance
Analysis
A few points I make above in Key Party Comparator data but also worth reiterating below
Since 2010 the Greens like UKIP/BXP/Reform have both benefitted from the collapse of the Lib Dems as a traditional 13%-26% cross-values protest party in a 3-party system to an 8%-13% party means there is more political space for more values focused parties at either end of the political spectrum.
Whilst this change became apparent with UKIP quickly as larger space on the right (13% by 2015) the Greens were benefitting too (4% by 2015), but that was then hidden due to the combination of what might now be seen as an "accidental Corbyn era" cul-de-sac of many Green members joining the far more ideologically diverse Labour Party (even at peak they could only be part of a 2016 62% vote majority not the 85% vote within the Greens by 2025) and also due to the "Brexit Binary" playing to UKIP's political agenda but squeezing out the Greens.
However since 2020 with the exit of many from Labour to the Greens and 1m ex 2019 Lab voters voting for them has seen post 2010 trends, that were disrupted for 5 years resumed.
Evidence for the above point has been the Green's Vote Shares in GB PR based elections of which they have fought over 20 over the last 27 years and increased their vote share:
Scottish Parliament 2026: 14% (Scottish Greens are a separate Party)
Welsh Senedd 2026: 7%,
London Assembly 2024 : 12%.
PR election vote shares are useful to understand the Party's underlying vote without any FPTP squeeze on it.
When they were smaller the Greens did not contest everything but in 2024 fought most Parliamentary Seats (which the election of 4 MPs and £0.5m Short Money - which is part based on vote share - will incentivise them to continue) and in the 2026 Local Elections had a SoPN metric of contesting 98% of Council seats. This level of electoral contest looks likely to continue.
Polling
Aggregators of Polling Data which will give polling averages and parliamentary (some also local government) seat predictions
Many post individual polls when released, but one can also follow all the pollsters direct too on X
Websites and X Feed:
Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election
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Polling Articles
Examples from Polling data that may be relevant to current and future Green Party Electoral Performance
Polling Analysis
Greens polled 7% and elected 4 MPs in 2024 gaining 1m ex2019 Labour voters. Their vote share continued to rise in the early part of the Labour government so even under the Denyer Ramsay leadership polled 8.6% in August 2025.
Zack Polanski's 85% Leadership victory - see above and also Home/News page introduction - likely became a trigger after the Your Party 800,000 expression of interest/disaster of a launch for people to feel the Greens were ideologically safe to join.
Due to Keir Starmer Zack Polanski took the Green vote share up to 16% by April 2026 and they won the Feb 2026 Gorton & Denton by-election and 18% in the May 2026 local elections and won 400 Council seats. At this time of some hubris he talked about "Replacing Labour".
However his social media behaviour came under criticism (eg he seemed to be in a feedback loop with his activists) and Labour responded to defeat by changing its leader with a far more down to earth, human popular one.
As a result Zack Polanski's own polling numbers declined as did the Green party and their message now claims to "Influence Labour". In many ways in modern day post-2020 Hyperpolitics he seemed to do a "Labour 2015-17" period but in just 9 months.
If he loses badly in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election and his poll ratings and that of the Party stay poor, due to the Greens facing a Leader election every two years, he may face a challenge. Looking at the Green vote numbers with a strong core of young women, if they can't find a "Mamdani man" the logic would be to find the nearest equivalent of a "tattooed, heavy metal loving Die Linke woman".