Green Party (UK)

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; before that, it was also named PEOPLE. In 1990, it separated into three regional political parties within the United Kingdom, those being the Green Party of England and Wales, the Scottish Greens, and the Green Party Northern Ireland.

Despite the UK Green Party no longer existing as a unified entity, "Green Party" (singular) is still used colloquially to refer collectively to the three separate parties; for example, in the reporting of opinion polls and election results.

The Green Party's origins go back to PEOPLE, a political party founded in Coventry in November 1972. An interview with overpopulation expert Paul R. Ehrlich in Playboy magazine inspired a small group of professional and business people to form the 'Thirteen Club', so named because it first met on 13 September 1972 at the Napton Bridge pub in Napton-on-the-Hill near Daventry. This included surveyors and property agents Freda Sanders and Michael Benfield, and husband-and-wife solicitors Lesley and Tony Whittaker (a former Kenilworth councillor for the Conservative Party), all with practices in Coventry. Out of the original 'club' these four individuals launched 'PEOPLE' as a new political party to challenge the UK political establishment. They called its first public meeting on 22 February 1973 at their office at 69 Hertford Street in Coventry. Its policy concerns published in 1973 included economics, employment, defence, energy and fuel supplies, land tenure, pollution and social security, all set within an ecological perspective. "Zero growth" (or "steady state") economics were a strong feature in the party's philosophical basis.

Later recognised as the first Green party in the United Kingdom and Europe as a whole, the party published the 'Manifesto for Survival' in June 1974, between the two general elections of that year. The manifesto was inspired by A Blueprint for Survival published by The Ecologist magazine. 'A Manifesto for a Sustainable Society' was an expanded statement of policies published in 1975 published under the newly changed name of the Ecology Party. The editor of The Ecologist, Edward 'Teddy' Goldsmith, merged his 'Movement for Survival' with PEOPLE in 1974. Goldsmith became one of the leading members of the new party during the 1970s.

With "Steady State" economics featured in the party's philosophical basis, the all-UK party became a persistent and growing presence in general elections and European elections, often fielding enough candidates to qualify for television and radio election broadcasts.

Membership rose and the party contested both 1974 general elections. In the February 1974 general election, PEOPLE received 4,576 votes in 7 seats. In later years, an influx of left-wing activists took PEOPLE in a more left-wing direction, causing something of a split. In the October 1974 general election, where PEOPLE's average vote fell to just 0.7%; much of the difference was made by Liberal candidates entering the fray. After much internal debate the party's 1975 Conference adopted a proposal to change its name to 'The Ecology Party' in order to gain more recognition as the party of environmental concern. This was supported by the Executive, who had found media recognition hard to achieve under the original name. 'Green' was not an appropriate name at that time^{[clarification needed]} and 'ecology' had become more publicly recognised as a concept in the party's three years of campaigning.

After much debate, the party's 1975 conference adopted a proposal to change its name to the Ecology Party to gain more recognition as the party of environmental concern.