{"id":58062,"date":"2026-04-07T12:06:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/?p=58062"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:12:26","slug":"the-rise-of-the-green-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/opinion\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of The Green Party?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"58062\" class=\"elementor elementor-58062\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-50473ec1 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-eae-slider=\"60534\" data-id=\"50473ec1\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-20243eef\" data-eae-slider=\"62948\" data-id=\"20243eef\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3731b2a5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3731b2a5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><strong>Helen Turnbull <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><strong>With Reform UK rising on the right and the Greens gaining momentum on the left, the longstanding dominance of Labour and the Conservatives appears to be weakening.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Until recently, the Greens had little success in elections. Their previous best by-election result was in Somerton and Frome in 2023, where they finished third with around 10% of the vote. Following the 2024 general election, the party held just four MPs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">However, Hannah Spencer\u2019s victory in Gorton and Denton marks a significant shift. The 34-year-old plumber and plasterer won 40.9% of the vote, beating Reform UK on 28% and leaving Labour in third place on 25%.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">This result may point to a broader trend. A recent poll by YouGov placed the Greens on 21%, within touching distance of Reform on 23%. Notably, 25% of those who voted Labour in 2024 now say they would vote Green.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Party membership figures also suggest rapid growth, with numbers reportedly rising to 215,000 following the by-election victory, up sharply from 68,000 in September 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">For much of the 20th century, Labour and the Conservatives commanded around 90% of the vote. However, Keir Starmer\u2019s push to move Labour towards the political centre has created space for alternatives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Labour\u2019s 2024 election victory came amid widespread frustration with Conservative rule, yet some voters feel the pace of change has been slow. The rise in Green support appears to reflect this sentiment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f2d49ea elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"f2d49ea\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-2026-03-26T153047.723.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-57967\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-2026-03-26T153047.723.png 756w, https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-2026-03-26T153047.723-225x300.png 225w, https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Untitled-2026-03-26T153047.723-68x90.png 68w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Zack Polanksi speaking at Cardiff Students' Union in March <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-62ffbfc elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-eae-slider=\"68854\" data-id=\"62ffbfc\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-a8c5c2d\" data-eae-slider=\"12028\" data-id=\"a8c5c2d\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7476083 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7476083\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">In her victory speech, Spencer tapped into cost-of-living concerns, arguing that \u201cworking hard should get you a nice life\u201d, but instead people are \u201cbeing bled dry\u201d. In her constituency, nearly 70% of voters backed either Reform or the Greens, suggesting strong support for parties outside the traditional mainstream.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Questions remain, however, about whether this surge can translate into lasting political influence. Rory Stewart has argued that the Green Party\u2019s economic policies \u201cdo not make sense\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">At the same time, some voters appear more focused on the party\u2019s ethical positions and stance on issues such as nuclear weapons, particularly in light of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Starmer has warned of \u201cthe risk of splitting the progressive vote\u201d, suggesting that such divisions could allow Reform to gain ground electorally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Despite criticism, the symbolism of the result is significant. If the Greens can field more candidates with the relatability and appeal of Spencer, they may increasingly be seen as a credible alternative rather than a fringe party.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">With several years until the next general election, the party has time to build on its momentum. Whether that support can be sustained remains to be seen.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-27a1056 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-eae-slider=\"91160\" data-id=\"27a1056\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"has_eae_slider elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-392e125\" data-eae-slider=\"38786\" data-id=\"392e125\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Helen Turnbull With Reform UK rising on the right and the Greens gaining momentum on the left, the longstanding dominance of Labour and the Conservatives appears to be weakening. Until recently, the Greens had little success in elections. Their previous best by-election result was in Somerton and Frome in 2023, where they finished third with around 10% of the vote. Following the 2024 general election, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/opinion\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Rise of The Green Party?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":509,"featured_media":58063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[8860],"tags":[2772,3732,2965,9051],"class_list":["post-58062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-green-party","tag-opinion","tag-politics","tag-zack-polanski"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Rise of The Green Party? - Gair Rhydd<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/opinion\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rise of The Green Party? - Gair Rhydd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Helen Turnbull With Reform UK rising on the right and the Greens gaining momentum on the left, the longstanding dominance of Labour and the Conservatives appears to be weakening. Until recently, the Greens had little success in elections. Their previous best by-election result was in Somerton and Frome in 2023, where they finished third with around 10% of the vote. Following the 2024 general election, &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/opinion\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gair Rhydd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gairrhydd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T11:06:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T11:12:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/1280px-Carla_Denyer_and_Zack_Polanski_-_52522884005.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"989\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor in Chief\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor in Chief\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/opinion\\\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/opinion\\\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor in Chief\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd07a556861fb4c429c028a10ca16b54\"},\"headline\":\"The Rise of The Green Party?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-07T11:06:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T11:12:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/opinion\\\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":431,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/opinion\\\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/1280px-Carla_Denyer_and_Zack_Polanski_-_52522884005.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"green party\",\"opinion\",\"Politics\",\"Zack Polanski\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/opinion\\\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\\\/gairrhydd\\\/opinion\\\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Rise of The Green Party? 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- Gair Rhydd","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/opinion\/the-rise-of-the-green-party\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Rise of The Green Party? - Gair Rhydd","og_description":"Helen Turnbull With Reform UK rising on the right and the Greens gaining momentum on the left, the longstanding dominance of Labour and the Conservatives appears to be weakening. 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in Chief","author_link":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/author\/editorinchief\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Helen Turnbull With Reform UK rising on the right and the Greens gaining momentum on the left, the longstanding dominance of Labour and the Conservatives appears to be weakening. Until recently, the Greens had little success in elections. Their previous best by-election result was in Somerton and Frome in 2023, where they finished third with&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58062"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58068,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58062\/revisions\/58068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/gairrhydd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}