EDINBURGH, September 25 (RIA Novosti) – The Green Party of England and Wales is seeking to include its leader, Natalie Bennett, in televised election debates alongside David Cameron and the like, aimed at gaining political influence beyond the climate and anti-fracking protests that it is mainly known for, The Guardian reported Thursday.
“We think we should be there. We think that it would be absolutely transformative,” Bennett was reported as saying by The Guardian on Thursday.
“There’s a significant chance the debates won’t happen at all. But if they do, the Tories [Conservative Party] are going to push hard for us to be on at least one of them. Cameron wants us to be there as well as UKIP [UK Independence Party],” she added.
According to a Green Party report published last week, the party’s membership grew by 28 percent in 2014 and is polling on 7 percent ahead of the 2015 elections. Although they have been polling on the same rate as the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party complains that they do not get as much media coverage.
“Green Party politicians and officials are engaged in ongoing conversations with both broadcasters and pollsters to ensure that the party's consistently strong showing in the polls is both reflected in the presentation of polling results and level of media coverage of the party ahead of the election,” the party’s report reads.
New support for the Green Party came in the wake of Scotland’s ‘No’ vote to independence from the United Kingdom earlier last week. Membership in Scotland increased by 4,000 to 5,600 over the past week alone, according to The Guardian.
“Scotland has become a participative democracy. I feel encouraged and optimistic,” a Green member of the Scottish parliament for Lothian was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The Green Party noted its policies, such as increased wealth tax by 2020, as one of the main reason for surging support.
“It is our policies such as a wealth tax on the top 1 percent, setting a target of a £10 minimum wage by 2020, bringing rail back into public hands and having a publicly owned and run NHS [National Health Service] that are both encouraging people to join as members and vote Green in growing numbers,” the party said in the report.
The Green Party also noted that the Tories, the Labor Party and the Liberal Democrats received much more donations, allowing them to carry out widespread political advertising.
