Latest news with #EllieChowns
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Green Party MP responds to surge in support for Jeremy Corbyn's new party
Ellie Chowns of the Green Party defended her party after LBC's Henry Riley highlighted the rapid sign-up rate of Jeremy Corbyn's new political party. Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's newly formed party is reportedly attracting a significant number of members, with 500 people signing up per minute. Green Party leadership candidates have cautioned against the party becoming a 'Jeremy Corbyn support act'. A divide has emerged within the Green Party as Zack Polanski expressed openness to collaborating with Corbyn and Sultana's new political venture. Watch video above.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Green Party responds after Jeremy Corbyn's new party receives more sign ups
Ellie Chowns defended the Green Party after LBC 's Henry Riley pointed out that Jeremy Corbyn 's newly formed party has had more sign ups that them Chowns appeared to laugh saying, "Nobody's had to pay them any money to sign-up." Jeremy Corbyn and former Labour leader Zarah Sultana are reportedly 'getting 500 people a minute' wanting to join their new political party. Despite Chowns and other Green Party leadership candidates warning against the Greens becoming 'a Jeremy Corbyn support act' Zack Polanski has said he's 'open' to working with new Corbyn and Sultana party' opening a divide in the party.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Greens see red: Brutal moment party's leadership hopeful repeatedly refuses to say he 'likes' rival (known as the 'boob whisperer') during radio clash
The Green Party 's leadership contest threatened to turn nasty last night after Adrian Ramsay repeatedly refused to say if he 'likes' rival Zack Polanski. In an excruciating exchange on LBC radio, Mr Ramsay was asked numerous times for his opinion of his fellow leadership candidate. Mr Ramsay initially declined on several occasions to say he 'likes' Mr Polanski. He instead only replied: 'Zack is a valued colleague.' Mr Polanski - who himself was quick to say he 'likes' Mr Ramsay - admitted his rival's answers 'hurt', adding: 'This is vicious.' Mr Ramsay, the party's current co-leader, is bidding to remain in charge and is standing in this year's contest as part of a joint ticket with fellow MP Ellie Chowns. The duo are being challenged by Mr Polanski, who is the party's current deputy leader and a member of the London Assembly. Mr Polanski has been nicknamed 'the boob whisperer' by online wags during the Green Party contest. It follows a 2013 interview with The Sun when, while working as a Harley Street hypnotherapist, he purported to help women increase the size of their bust. The Green Party leadership race, which is due to end on September 2, has become increasingly bitter. Earlier this month, Mr Ramsay suggested Mr Polanski, who has a sizeable online following, was hoping to use a 'big social media presence' to 'circumvent the really hard work that's needed' to grow the party. Appearing on LBC last night, Mr Ramsay and Mr Polanski were challenged over the hostile nature of their leadership battle. Asked if he likes Mr Polanski, Mr Ramsay said: 'I've enjoyed working with Zack over the last few years, of course.' Mr Polanski said: 'I really like Adrian so that does hurt. I disagree with Adrian on lots of things but I like him.' Challenged again to say he likes Mr Polanski, Mr Ramsay added: 'Zack is a valued colleague, absolutely.' Pressed again, he continued: 'I like working with Zack, absolutely.' Towards the end of the exchange, Mr Ramsay eventually conceded: 'I work with Zack effectively, I like working with Zack, I like Zack.'
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lower voting age could swing Herefordshire seat
Hereford and South Herefordshire is among constituencies that could be swung by 16- and 17-year-olds at the next election, following the government's announcement yesterday (July 17) of plans to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. The current Conservative MP for the seat Jesse Norman saw off his Labour challenger by just 1,279 votes at the last general election a year ago. But official figures published by the House of Commons Library show there are currently 2,016 young people aged 16 and 17 in the constituency. RELATED NEWS: Jesse Norman puts 'blighted' Herefordshire veterans' case Palestine Action: how Green MP Ellie Chowns voted Jesse Norman MP: 'huge change' in Herefordshire housing is coming Mr Norman was asked to comment on the planned change and its likely consequences. Meanwhile in North Herefordshire, Green MP Ellie Chowns, currently campaigning to become joint leader of the party nationally, tweeted: 'On this one, Labour have got it right: votes at 16 is long overdue.' What are your thoughts? You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here. Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence. With a majority of 5,894 over the Conservatives a year ago, compared to 1,884 16- and 17-year-olds in the constituency, she would appear to be less impacted by the change. OTHER NEWS: Herefordshire road closure confusion cleared up Planning battle over 'eyesore' leylandii hedge 'Horrendous' traffic danger fears on roadworks 'rat run' In both constituencies, young people in this range make up just over two per cent of the population, slightly below the national average. Meanwhile a seat-by-seat analysis by Stats for Lefties based on the polling this week by Find Out Now predicts that if a general election were held now, Hereford and South Herefordshire would fall to Reform UK, which would gain an outright majority in Parliament. Ellie Chowns would retain her North Herefordshire seat for the Greens, who would gain a further six seats nationally, Stats for Lefties said.
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
By learning to wield political power, Greens could fill the void at the heart of British politics
The Green party leadership election – by far the highest-profile in the party's history – has largely been seen through the traditional lens of left and centre. On the one hand is Zack Polanski, the deputy leader and London assembly member whose insurgent campaign has attracted a surge of former Corbynites to the party. He's seen as the left candidate. The incumbent, Adrian Ramsay (no relation to me), and his new running-mate, Ellie Chowns – both rural MPs – have been described as eco-centrists. While there is some truth to that, it's not quite so simple: after all, Ramsay and Chowns, like Polanski, have called for a wealth tax and renationalisations, and have denounced Israeli genocide in Gaza. This is hardly Starmerite centrism. To think about the real distinction, it might be an idea to go to Lancaster in 2007. At the time, the party was holding a tense annual conference that was split between two currents whose differences help make sense of what's happening today. I was one of the 'realos' (realists). We wore suits, hoping any passing journalist would take us seriously. The other side were known as the 'fundis' (fundamentalists), and they seemed to have exaggerated their hippy garb. I remember two people in druid gowns – perhaps because of genuine pagan beliefs, but probably also because they were trolling us. The realo v fundi terminology originated in disputes within the German Greens in the 1980s over whether to enter coalition governments. In the party in England and Wales, the stakes were lower: in 2007, we were holding a referendum on whether the party should have a leader, replacing the then system of having two 'principal speakers'. For realos, this change was a statement of intent: it was about becoming serious. For fundis, there was, as the realo Natalie Bennett, who joined in 2006, put it to me, 'a great deal of concern that this would be a major change in the culture of the party'. We won the referendum, but the leadership role it produced is highly limited. The leader gets the title, a desk, a salary if they don't have one, press office time and one vote on the party executive. They can advocate, but can't change policy, choose spokespeople or direct strategy. And they're easily replaced: elections are every two years. Many older Greens remain queasy at the idea of a leader – certainly a 'strong' leader. Both this queasiness and the limited power have shaped the party ever since, and meant that leadership contests have tended to focus on organisation-building strategy or presentational emphasis and style, not policy. In the first one, in 2008, the realo MEP Caroline Lucas and permanently besuited 26-year-old Norwich councillor Adrian Ramsay were elected leader and deputy virtually unopposed; they advocated that resources be focused on the two target constituencies in which they were the candidates – leading to Lucas becoming the first Green MP in 2010. Afterwards, though, she was busy in Westminster, unable to tour the country building the party on the back of this progress and, despite the thriving anti-austerity movement, in which many of us were active, party membership stagnated. Our generation of (then) Young Greens developed a broadly shared understanding that the party was held back by two main things: the perception that we were just about the environment (rather than a party for the millions of leftwing voters abandoned by New Labour); and a fear of conflict. I had a mantra: 'Greens can either be controversial, or ignored. Too often, the party chooses the latter.' In 2012, Lucas and Ramsay stood down, and Bennett won the election – largely because she presented a serious plan for membership growth. She toured the country and cheerfully adopted leftist language. In her first leader's speech, she said: 'Ask not what the trade unions can do for us. Ask what we can do for the trade unions.' By 2014, membership had more than doubled to almost 28,000. In 2015, it surged past 60,000 … until Jeremy Corbyn ran for Labour leader, and thousands left to join that project instead. Many, though, didn't leave, and the legacy of that membership surge remained, both in party income and in hundreds of activists getting themselves elected as councillors (a phenomenon the MP and 2018-2021 co-leader Siân Berry describes to me as 'Natalie's legacy'). Since the end of Corbynism, space has opened up again on the left, and this, combined with effective mobilisation of resources, led to hundreds more Green councillors and four MPs in 2024. But the last year has felt stagnant. With Starmer lurching right, there's an obvious space in British politics that the Greens are struggling to take. The average score in the past 10 polls for a Westminster election – about 11% – is better than ever. But sluggish compared with Reform UK. In April, Adrian Ramsay was asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme whether he agreed with the party's policy that 'trans men are men, and trans women are women', and failed to answer five times – triggering condemnation from the Young Greens. Two weeks later, his co-leader, Carla Denyer, announced that she wouldn't seek re-election and, in May, Polanski launched an energetic campaign with the slogan 'We need bold leadership. Now.' Ramsay and Chowns' campaign is, instead, focused on their parliamentary roles – being 'in the room where it happens'. This seems to me a mistake: historically, Greens have thrived when the leader isn't stuck in Westminster. For some longstanding members, Corbynites joining to 'back Zack' is scary. Some fear Polanski's mooted ecopopulism, worrying it will attract people who 'aren't really Green'. Much of this fear isn't about policy difference, but culture. Older fundi-types who liked Corbyn's socialism but feared that the movement behind his leadership was a 'cult of personality' now have similar worries about Polanski. Chowns and Ramsay, on the other hand, exude the kind of gentle, conflict-averse, consensual leadership style that the fundis used to advocate (sitting uncomfortably with their hyper-realo insistence on the centrality of Westminster). In other words, the Green party division isn't really so much about left and centre as it is about differing ideas about political power and how to wield it. For me, Polanski takes the realo acceptance of the need for charismatic leadership and blends it with the fundis' belief in extraparliamentary organising and social movements. His position – that the party should be bolder in articulating its positions, that it shouldn't be embarrassed by opinions that the Daily Mail considers scandalous (but are shared with much of the population), that it should lead the left – isn't a new, un-Green one. It's one that our generation of members has been making for two decades. Indeed, it was the approach that delivered the vast membership surge in 2013-2015, which made the subsequent electoral successes possible. And it's the approach that will be needed to stop the recent membership surge directing their energies to Zarah Sultana's new project. British politics is in a moment of flux. The two-party system is clearly breaking down. Huge numbers of people fundamentally distrust our whole system, and large numbers of seats, particularly left-leaning urban constituencies, are actively looking for a proudly progressive alternative to Labour. Polanski's bolder platform offers Greens a chance to step up. I hope the party takes it. Adam Ramsay is a journalist and Green party member. His forthcoming book is Abolish Westminster and he writes a Substack newsletter of the same name
