Skip to content

Green Party

Origins

The Green Party of England and Wales originated from the PEOPLE Party which was founded in Coventry in 1972, which was renamed the Ecology Party in 1975 and in 1985 it changed finally to the Green Party. Under its own core values, it is a party of ‘social and environmental justice which supports a radical transformation of society for the benefit of all, and for the planet as a whole’.

The Scottish Green Party and the Green Party in Northern Ireland were created in 1990 when those wings of the party decided to amicably separate from the party in England and Wales. 

Zack Polanski is the current party leader, after decisively beating former leader Adrian Ramsay and Dr Ellie Chowns who ran on a joint ticket to be co-leaders. The contest ended in September 2025 and saw Polanski securing 20,411 votes, comfortably beating the 3,705 votes cast for Ramsay and Chowns by Green Party members. A London Assembly member since 2021, Polanski won on an offer to take bold action and bold leadership, to deliver environmental, social, racial and economic justice and argued for a eco-populist strategy to counter the far-right who he credits as being more formidable storytellers. 

Election results 

The 2024 general election saw the Green Party elect more Green MP’s than ever before. From one MP, Caroline Lucas, to four MPs, and gaining a fifth in a recent by-election. They almost tripled their share of the vote to 6.8%, with more than 1.9 million votes, and came second in 39 seats in England and Wales.

In terms of the upcoming general election, the party is aiming to field candidates in every seat in England and Wales at this year's general election, which would mark a first for the party. In recent years, the number of votes that the party has received has been increasing, along with a growth in party membership. 

In the 2026 local elections the party performed incredibly well, with 456 new councillors in England and Wales, gaining control of five councils and electing two mayors in Lewisham and Hackney. It took their total number of councillors to over 1,300, an increase from 812 from the 2024 local elections. It was the party’s best ever local election results in terms of seat numbers, which concentrated in Bristol, Brighton, Norwich, Oxford and inner London.  Zack Polanski declared two-party politics as “dead and buried” after the successful results, which in large part happened by the party  capitalising on disappointment from Labour voters over its U-turn on green investment, and the party’s stance on public ownership of public services as well as its stance on Gaza. The Green Party called for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ months before the Labour Party and is pushing for an embargo on UK arms sales to Israel, hence why they gained votes from unhappy Labour voters.

Key voter demographics 

Polling from YouGov shows that support for the party is higher amongst young people, reaching 14% among 18-24 year olds and 12% among 25-29 year olds. Young women- those aged 18-24 are noticeably more likely to favour the party than men who are the same age (17% versus 10%). This suggests that young people and especially young women are key demographics for the party. 

At the last election, the party won its highest vote share in the South East of the country (4.0%).

Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy is a critical area for the party and has always been a focus. The environmental policies in the 2024 manifesto remain largely supported by Polanski, who was Deputy Leader at the time. However, as a self-described eco-populist, Polanski has communicated that environmental priorities should be combined more with social and economic policy, and has said climate policy must directly address everyday financial pressures like high rents, energy costs and low wages.Other parts of the manifesto include a sustainable transport revolution with investments in public transport/active travel; a frequent flyer levy to reduce aviation emissions; providing farmers with resources to help transition to sustainable agriculture and encouraging healthier diets with reduced meat and dairy consumption in the UK.

Key climate and nature manifesto commitments

  • A £40billion a year investment in the shift to a green economy over the course of the next Parliament, with a carbon tax to drive fossil fuels out of the economy and raise money to invest in the green transition.

  • Housing: A greener homes guarantee that puts greater requirements on local authorities to plan in local transport to new developments, heat pumps/solar on all new homes.

  • Energy: Nationalising the water companies and the Big 5 retail energy companies. Ending new oil licensing, cancelling 'recent licences', ending oil and gas subsidies, phasing out of nuclear power and wind to provide 70% of UK energy by 2030.

  • Nature: A Rights of Nature Act, anti-Sewage water measures, English Right to Roam, '30 by 30', rights around clean air, restricting government control over emergency authorisation of pesticides

  • Agriculture: Tripling of financial support for farmers in their transition to nature-friendly farming, with farm payments to be linked to reduced use of pesticides.

  • Transport: Invest £19billion over five years to improve public transport, support electrification and create new cycleways and footpaths. Enforcement of Active Travel England's aims, a frequent flyer levy, no more airport expansion, and a ban of domestic flights that have a <3hr rail alternative.

  • Foreign Policy: Abolishing Trident programme, increasing international aid to 1% of gross national income (GNI) and increasing climate finance for the Global South to 1.5% of GNI by 2033, with an additional contribution to a newly established Loss and Damage Fund.

Recent parliamentary activity

Since entering Parliament with the most elected MPs in its party history, the Green Party has used its position to campaign hard against fossil fuel expansion, most visibly over new North Sea oil and gas fields. In June 2026, Green MPs signed an early day motion opposing the Rosebank oil field, and co-signed a letter to the Energy Secretary urging her not to approve the Jackdaw gas field, warning it would do nothing to lower energy prices or protect jobs. The Greens have also pushed the government on nature protections within the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, voting alongside most Liberal Democrats to keep a Lords amendment safeguarding species and habitat protections, but the government defeated that amendment in the Commons in November 2025.

Although the Green Party hasn’t been supportive of much of the government's approach to foreign policy, particularly Gaza, the proposed welfare cuts and even some nature legislation, energy policy has been common ground. All sitting Green MPs backed the Great British Energy Bill at its third reading in October 2024, helping pass into law the creation of a publicly owned clean energy company.