Rumpus over exclusion of the Greens

When it was blandly announced that the Green Party would not be included in the TV Leaders’ Debates ahead of the 2015 General Election, there was a gale of protest. Over 150,000 people signed a Change.org petition within 36 hours, and the numbers continued to swell as the protest spread like wildfire on social media. At some points the petition was receiving 7,200 signatures an hour – that’s 120 a minute on average, more than two per second.

A poll released by YouGov revealed that 47% of respondents felt that the debate (which includes Nigel Farage) should also include Natalie Bennett of the Green Party. Natalie herself said, “The broadcasters are demonstrating just how out of touch they are with the public mood, and how ridiculously they cling to the idea that the future of politics looks like the past. It is clear from votes and polls that the public are fed up with the three business-as-usual parties and are looking around for alternatives.”

Green Party membership in England and Wales has increased by 56% in 2014.