Exclusive: Why The Green Party Could Be The Dark Horse In This Unpredictable Era For UK Politics

Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North HerefordshireBritain’s two-party system is undoubtedly on the rocks – but it’s not just Reform UK who are hoping to capitalise on the public’s disillusionment with politics.The Green Party has been patiently waiting in the wings for at least 15 years, when it elected its first MP to parliament.Now armed with five MPs and 859 council seats across the country, they’ve got their eye on voters across the political spectrum – including those who back Nigel Farage’s party.“We are insurgents in politics,” Green MP Ellie Chowns tells HuffPost UK.“There are people who have voted Reform in the past, who I am sure will – at some point in the future – vote Green.”Chowns has thrown her hat into the ring to be the Green Party’s co-leader along with existing co-leader, Adrian Ramsay after Carla Denyer announced she was stepping down from the role earlier this month.The MP for North Herefordshire said she got into politics because of her “complete frustration with the rise of Farage and Ukip” in 2015.“I just felt so passionately that I wanted to see my values and my views represented in politics,” Chowns said, so she signed up and “never looked back”.But Farage has gone from strength to strength over the last decade, successfully campaigning for Brexit in 2016 before finally winning a parliamentary seat as Reform’s leader last year.His party then won 677 seats at the local elections on May 1, and now consistently lead in the opinion polls after seemingly usurping the Conservatives as the main party of the right of British politics.By contrast, the Greens are usually in fifth place, fighting for space on the left with Labour and the Lib Dems. Can you imagine if there weren’t Greens in the chamber? If there wasn’t a strong and growing green voice in the country? Things would be even worse. Chowns is unconcerned, however, pointing out that politics is a “marathon, not a sprint”.“Fear can be very mobilising,” she says of the rise of Reform, and can generate huge swings in votes as seen under Boris Johnson’s, who won an 80-seat majority in 2019 and was gone less than three years later.“Greens have council seats in areas where people previously voted for right-wing parties as a protest, because they felt that they were completely abandoned by the main parties, Chowns says. “Those seats turned Green and they’ve been Green ever since.”The MP also claimed that if proportional representation was implemented – a long-standing Green policy – they would have closer to 50 MPs.Still, she insisted that fellow anti-establishment Reform MPs are not the Greens’ main opponents.Farage’s troops rely on “complete distraction politics”, she says, pointing to the recent row over which flags can be flown in Reform-run councils.The Greens, Chowns insists, are different.“We’re not just using [our parliamentary seats] as a platform to then go off and speak on GB News like Reform MPs,” Chowns said - a dig at Farage and Lee Anderson.She did also acknowledge that the Greens once had a common ground with the right-wing populists around electoral reform, but – after Reform’s public support skyrocketed – “now they seem to have turned their back on that”.So perhaps the primary difference between Reform and the Greens is that the right-wing party is known for baring its teeth, while those on the left are considered to be far nicer – perhaps, too nice.But Chowns pushed back on that critique.She pointed out how her party has been very vocal in calling the Israel war in Gaza a genocide and challenging the government on social issues.“I don’t think it is about shouting into the wilderness,” Chowns noted, especially since “the first bit of politics is listening.”Current Green Party co-leaders Adrian Ramsay, right, and Carla Denyer in 2024.But, it’s not all about voters swapping between insurgent parties – past Tory and Labour voters might also be turning Green, according to the MP.She could have a point. Chowns herself ousted Conservative Bill Wiggin in her West Midlands constituency last year after the Tories had a comfortable 14 years in the seat.“I was able to reach out to people who previously thought of themselves as Labour, or Conservative, and connect with things that they really wanted and valued in politics,” she said.Chowns argued everything changes as soon as once-loyal voters realise they are “not stuck in this identity at all”.She said many Conservative voters have more of a “small C”, claiming there’s an overlap with the concept of conservation, community and protecting small businesses – all of which are at “the heart of Green values”, too.The MP also argued that “taxing wealth, not work” is attractive across the political spectrum.It is true the government’s decision to hike National Insurance contributions for employers has been incredibly unpopular, and three-quarters of Brits support taxing millionaires’ wealth.And it is that kind of policy that may win over Labour’s disillusioned 2024 voters, 70% of whom told YouGov they could now be tempted to move to the Lib Dems or Greens.She also insisted that the Greens have had a stronger influence on the government’s climate policies than the public might realise.“Can you imagine if there weren’t Greens in the chamber?” The MP said. “If there wasn’t a strong and growing green voice in the country? Things would be even worse.” I really don’t think that we win Green power by aping Donald Trump or Farage in any way. Nominations for the Green Party leadership campaign open on June 2 – with the results announced on September 2 – but Chowns and Ramsay are already facing a leadership contest.The party’s current deputy, Zack Polanski, is standing against them on a single ticket.Although he was not elected to parliament in July, he is proposing the Greens pivot to “eco-populism” – a combination of ecological concerns and a populist approach.But Chowns seemed sceptical of that approach, saying those Reform tactics will not work on Green causes.She claimed: “You could say, ‘direct all of your anger at the billionaires and fossil fuel companies,’ – but those causes are mostly distant and faceless.“Whereas Reform is tapping into this visceral interpersonal blaming of a subgroup – migrants.”Even then, the MP suggested she did not believed such “scapegoating” explained Reform’s surge in support.“It’s weird as well because I don’t believe that’s kind of central to the British character at all,” she said, pointing to the way Brits have opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees.“I really don’t think that we win Green power by aping Donald Trump or Farage in any way,” the MP said, pointing to New Zealand’s former prime minister Jacinda Ardern as a better example for them to follow.So where can we expect the Greens to be the time of the next general election?Chowns laughed and refused to outline a clear target for the party.“I am totally not into creating a rod for my own back,” she insisted.When reminded that Farage has already predicted that he will be the next prime minister, she hit back with a smile: “Hubris.”Related...Rachel Reeves' Plan To Cut Welfare Spending Reveals Labour's Twisted Priorities, Green MP SaysYoung People Think Democracies Can’t Deliver Change – We Need To Prove Them Wrong, Says Green Party LeaderStarmer’s Farage Impression Won’t Save Him From Reform – But It Will Make Life Worse For Brits, MP Warns

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