The Green Party must move beyond reactive opposition and publish a comprehensive, credible programme for transitioning away from capitalism
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/joe-todd. "What’s the future for the Green Party? Should it be socialism? | Joe Todd | The Guardian." October 20, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
The author argues that the Greens shouldn't just react to whatever Labour does, because that makes them a mere pressure group. Instead they should write a detailed, honest plan for moving beyond capitalism, drawn up with many outside groups, to show they are a serious alternative and to make Burnham's modest reforms look weak. He points to France's La France Insoumise as proof that this kind of programme can work.
Conclusion
In its next phase, the Green Party should stop acting as a Labour pressure group and develop, through a broad participatory process, a detailed and credible programme for transitioning away from capitalism, since this is needed to give voters a reason to trust it and to expose Burnham's Labour vision as inadequate.
Premises
- Reacting to Labour with differentiated policy proposals (a wealth tax, a rent brake) is only tactical manoeuvring, and if the Greens keep doing only this they will become a Labour pressure group without answering what society's fundamental problems are or how to fix them.
- The crises we face (climate breakdown, bankrupt public services, inflation, runaway rents, loneliness, billionaire-owned media, tech oligarchs) are severe, and Burnham's modest reforms are inadequate to them, amounting to managed decline of a system in crisis.
- Capitalism is the root cause of these crises, being fundamentally incompatible with a liveable world, and Burnham will not name it or act on it, having abandoned public ownership and a smaller role for the market.
- Trust in political parties is very low, and the Greens, with 5 MPs and 10% of the vote, will not be taken seriously unless they take themselves seriously by offering an honest, rigorous and credible programme.
- La France Insoumise's L'Avenir en Commun shows that a comprehensive, visionary and detailed programme can capture public attention and make a left party electorally competitive.
- A programme written in an open process involving unions, community groups, thinktanks and affected people, and speaking about the good life, can unify the party, answer doubts about its credibility, and replace single-issue policy motions.
Assumptions
- Capitalism is the root cause of the listed crises, and a transition away from it is both necessary and politically feasible.
- Voters withhold support from the Greens mainly because of doubts about credibility and the lack of a comprehensive programme, rather than for other reasons such as ideology, tactical voting or media hostility.
- A detailed programme will persuade voters rather than being ignored, or attacked as extreme.
- The French experience with La France Insoumise translates to the UK context, and its published programme was a cause of its polling strength.
- Differentiated policy interventions and a systemic programme are in tension, rather than complementary.
- Labour under Burnham will continue to disappoint, leaving space on the left for the Greens.