There's More To The Green Party Than The Name Suggests

By Jonathan Walker on Apr 15, 10 01:57 PM in Politics

The Green Party manifesto, published today, makes interesting reading.

Like the other parties, the Greens' main focus appears to be on the economy, creating jobs and sorting out the banks, even if the solutions they suggest are different.

Greens are calling for the national minimum wage to increase to ÃÂ£8.10 an hour, and want pensions increased to ÃÂ£170 a week for someone living alone and ÃÂ£300 a week for couples.

They also propose an economic stimulus programme called the "Green New Deal" which would create a million jobs nationwide through investment in training, public transport, insulation, social housing and waste management.

The phrase "global warming" appears once in the manifesto, while the word "jobs" appears 28 times in the 48-page document.

Of course, many of the proposals, such as encouraging recycling or improving public transport, are designed to meet the needs of both the environment and the economy.

But the Greens aren't the single-issue party their name seems to imply. Their theme for this election is "a fairer society", not "save the planet".

I was speaking to their Selly Oak candidate James Burn who pointed out that the party began life as the "PEOPLE" party. I got the impression he rather regretted they ever changed their name.