The Green Party in the United Kingdom may refer to one or all three Green political parties in the United Kingdom:- * Green Party of England and Wales; * Scottish Greens; and * Green Party Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland branch party of the

Green Party (Ireland) The Green Party ( ga, Comhaontas Glas, , Green Alliance) is a green political party that operates in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. As other like-minded Green parties, it has eco-socialist/green left and more moderate factions. ...

The three Green parties are members of: * European Green Party, a federation of Green parties across more than 30 countries in Europe; and * Global Greens, an international network of Green parties who implement the

Global Greens Charter The ''Global Greens Charter'' is a document that 800 delegates from the Green parties of 72 countries decided upon a first gathering of the Global Greens in Canberra, Australia in April 2001. The first part contains six guiding principles, whereas ...

. These parties do not contest elections against each other as they only operate in the named constituent countries of the United Kingdom. Sometimes these are collectively referred to as "(The) Green Party", for example in the media and opinion polls.

History

The

PEOPLE Party The Green Party, also known as the Green Party UK, was a Green politics, Green political party in the United Kingdom. Prior to 1985 it was called the Ecology Party, and before that PEOPLE Party, PEOPLE. In 1990, it separated into three polit ...

was founded in February 1972 by Tony and Lesley Whittaker, Freda Sanders, and Michael Benfield, a group of

surveyors Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

who were concerned about the state of economics, employment, defence, energy (fuel) supplies, land tenure, pollution and social security, as then seen within an ecological perspective. After the 1975 Conference, PEOPLE changed its name to the Ecology Party to gain more recognition as a party of environmental concern. The

Ecology Party The Green Party, also known as the Green Party UK, was a Green political party in the United Kingdom. Prior to 1985 it was called the Ecology Party, and before that PEOPLE. In 1990, it separated into three political parties: * the Green Part ...

was seen as the second step for Green politics in the United Kingdom. In 1976, the party won its first seats on

Rother District Council Rother may refer to: General *Rother (surname) (also sometimes spelled Röther) *Rother District, a local government district in East Sussex, England *Rother FM, an independent local radio station for Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England *Rother Kup ...

, East Sussex, and on Kempsey Parish Council, Hereford & Worcester. Jonathan Tyler was elected Chairman of the Ecology Party that same year, and both Tony and Lesley Whittaker took a step back from active involvement in the party. The 1977 Party Conference saw Jonathan Porritt elected to its National Executive Committee. In the 1979 and 1983 General Elections, membership and recognition of the Ecology Party greatly increased. By July 1980, consensus in the Ecology Party was focusing towards decentralisation and

non-violent direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to othe ...

. Following the success of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

in the UK and Die Grunen in Germany, the Ecology Party resolved to change its name to the Green Party. The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

of the United Kingdom was founded in June 1985. The party had increased success in the 1987 general election. In 1990, the Scottish and Northern Irish branches of the Green Party voted to break away and form their own parties, citing differences in opinion on party policy and the growing support for

Scottish independence Scottish independence ( gd, Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; sco, Scots unthirldom) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about. S ...

. The remainder of the Green Party became the Green Party of England & Wales, of which the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and London branches operate with a degree of autonomy. In 2006, the Green Party of Northern Ireland resolved to amalgamate with, and become a branch of, the Green Party of Ireland. In July 2018, the Wales Green Party held a vote to decide on whether or not to separate from the Green Party of England & Wales and become a separate party. Of those who voted, 65% voted in favour of the status quo. All three Green parties used to be members of the Greens-European Free Alliance from its inception until the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union in 2021. The Greens/EFA is the political grouping in the European Parliament, comprising Green and regionalist parties from across the member states.

History

See also