Motion #04
Communications The Co-leaders are in a unique position to build the party’s visibility in the media and they have made it a top priority during their first year in post. They have been working closely with the communications and press team, with whom they have daily contact. The leadership team has been on a rolling media rota which means one of them is always available for media requests, and they all contribute to a weekly leadership and communications call to update and refine lines and spot opportunities. Since last conference, Carla and Adrian have consistently featured on a wide range of national, regional and local media. Through print, radio and TV, they have commented on the climate emergency, the war in Ukraine, the energy and cost of living crisis, Partygate, the Rwanda deportation plan, sexual harassment in the workplace, the Conservative leadership contest and more, showcasing that the Green Party’s political voice is increasingly taken seriously by media across issues. Amongst other outlets, they have repeatedly appeared on Channel 4, BBC, Times Radio, LBC, Sky News and The Independent, and have established national profiles trusted by journalists, with whom they have begun to build personal relationships.
Field work and local elections Carla and Adrian have worked with the field team to support Green Party election campaigns through leadership tours and online events. They have visited local parties across England in all nine regions, and both visited Wales. Most visits were focused on supporting local parties’ long and short campaigns for local elections. They also supported by-elections in Lewes, Wealden and Wakefield, fundraising events in Lewes and Sussex, and provided a boost to various local parties’ volunteer or candidate recruitment drives.
Adrian and Carla kicked off the local election short campaign at a launch in Lambeth, London. Their speeches focused on the cost of living crisis and green solutions, with a spotlight on Green-led council schemes to retrofit council homes with insulation. The launch, headlined by the slogan ‘fairer, greener communities’, achieved widespread media coverage and helped set the tone for a common and unified message across Green campaigns.
During the short campaign, the co-leaders had a particularly busy month balancing national media with field work to support target local campaigns. Leadership appearances in national media in the short campaign included Carla on Channel 4’s local election debate, and Adrian on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions - both of which attracted notable spontaneous applause from the live audiences. On polling day, they supported polling day operations in some target wards and then travelled to the party’s election hub in London, where they worked several days with the communication team on a rolling media rota to comment on results and Green gains. They focused their messaging on Green gains happening everywhere, rural and urban from Conservative and Labour, to demonstrate the party’s capacity to succeed in first-past-the-post across England and Wales.
Collaborations and events Throughout their leadership so far, Carla and Adrian have frequently collaborated with civil society and external organisations who share party goals and values. For example: they spoke at events such as Limmud and Tolpuddle festivals, at demonstrations against Conversion Therapy and for Ukraine solidarity, and at rallies organised by NHS workers’ unions and the University and College Union; they campaigned with pressure groups and coalitions such as Make Votes Matter, the APPG on Frozen British Pensions and Reform Political Advertising; and they consulted organisations and unions such as the Royal College of Nursing. They also met and worked with the wider network of Greens, including but not limited to Green German minister Anna Lührmann and the European Green Party, and have regular Green Isles meetings with Scottish and Northern Irish co-leaders.
Governance and internal party work Though less visible to the public, the leadership also has a busy and important role supporting good governance and internal party work. The nature of this role has been varied, and usually in collaboration with other internal entities, such as GPEx, GPRC, liberation groups, committees, the field team, the communication team and elected Greens. The leaders have been working closely with the wider leadership team, including the Chairs of GPEx and GPRC and the party’s CEO and senior staff team, to ensure the party is focused on delivering the Political Strategy. The strategy recognises that the 2020s are the key decade for action on the climate and ecological emergency and creating a fairer society, and that we need to maximise Green political influence during this crucial period in human history. The leaders also work closely with our Parliamentarians and London Assembly members to coordinate work and maximise opportunities. The Co-leaders have been taking turns monthly to chair Political Committee (PolCom), where communication lines are discussed with a wide range of representatives of the party. Agenda items have covered our response to COP 26, Covid, the Health & Care Bill, HS2, Brexit, cost of living & energy crisis, Nationality & Borders Bill, Ukraine & NATO, the Queen’s Speech, fossil fuel campaigning, Partygate, Ella’s law (on clean air) and the Conservative leadership race - to name a few. With Amelia, Adrian and Carla have been meeting with liberation/members’ groups and their co-chairs to keep up to date with issues and provide support where they can. To date, they have met with the Jewish Greens, LGBTIQA+ Greens, Greens of Colour and the Green Party Disability Group. Meetings with the remaining liberation groups will be scheduled over the coming months.
The Co-leaders both contributed to the Spring conference and have played an active role in preparing for the Autumn one, including collaborating with policy working groups and committees to copropose motions. Alongside colleagues on the Green Party Executive (GPEx), they have been working with external experts Diverse Matters to take forward a range of work to promote good practice in equality, equity, diversity and inclusion across the party. They have also been working closely with the membership and development team and the GPEx Chair to help develop the party’s fundraising strategy in preparation for the next General Election. This has included building a network of people who are helping to expand our base of donors, working within our agreed ethical principles for donations.
Preparing for the General Election Our Political Strategy - agreed by conference last year - sets out goals to win 5 MPs and 900 councillors by 2025 and to break through into the Senedd in Wales. The goals are rightly ambitious and build on the substantial success we’ve had in growing our councillor numbers over the last three sets of local elections, plus growing numbers of by-elections wins. The party is increasingly focused on building for the General Election, including being ready for a potential early election. The Co-leaders have been supporting work being led by staff teams and office holders across the party including on communications and policy planning, budgeting, encouraging diverse candidate selection right across the country and building the focus on the priority constituencies. The priority constituencies scheme is gaining momentum with growing activity on the ground and an increased level of support from members around the country. The action weekend in Bristol West at the end of June saw members from around the country knock on over 3000 doors in the constituency. A Big Action Weekend is taking place on 10th and 11th September when members will be asked to go to help in one of five priority seats which are all running action days on the same weekend. The Co-leaders are both target candidates, with Carla standing in Bristol West and Adrian in North Suffolk. Both areas have strong Green councillor representation and show the diversity of areas where Greens are doing well (one being urban where we’re challenging Labour, the other very rural where we are challenging the Conservatives). In both these seats we are building momentum in terms of volunteer capacity and candidate profile related to key local campaigns. The Co-leaders have also had productive discussions with the leadership team in Wales Green Party about the next Senedd elections in 2026 and have recommended that GPEW seeks to build a similar level of focus on the priority seats for the next Senedd elections as we are for the priority Westminster seats.
Giving thanks
The Co-leaders are eternally grateful for the support of many brilliant and hard-working people in the party. They would like to give a special thanks to CEO Mary Clegg and every member of Green Party staff for their amazing work. We’ve worked particularly closely with Chris Williams, Paul Steedman, Andi Mohr and all the field organisers, Gemma Walker, James Rush and the communications team and of course our Leaders’ Office Manager Marie Balaguy. A big thank you also to members of GPEx and GPRC and everyone else who, in paid or voluntary roles, quietly works to help the party achieve our goals. We’d like to thank everyone who is stepping down from their roles at this conference, including Liz Reason who is standing down as Chair after six years on GPEx, a period in which we’ve seen significant improvements in our organisational effectiveness. Finally, a huge thank you to Amelia Womack, whose contribution as deputy leader has been immeasurable, and whose valuable insight and experience will be missed