How Will Green Party's Medicine Go Down?
The Green Party has held its biggest ever
conference as the party tries to build
momentum ahead of the General Election.
With membership quadrupling in the last
year, 1,300 delegates packed out
Liverpool's conference centre.
It comes after a widely mocked radio
interview with leader Natalie Bennett
went viral.
She struggled to explain how party
policies would be paid for and blamed a
bad cold for her performance.
So how would Natalie Bennett cope trying
to explain the policies announced at Party
Conference?
Video: Green's 'Excruciating' Interview
Abolish tuition fees
Cough-o-meter: 1 (No Need For Strepsils)
Likely to be very popular with the young
people who are an important voter base
for the Greens. Could help them mop up
some dissatisfied Lib Dems.
Banning almost all cars
Cough-o-meter: 5 (A Hacking Cough)
The current transport policy would "ban
almost all currently roadworthy cars," by
requiring technology to stop them
breaking the speed limit.
A motion to change the policy admits "this
would probably prove unattractive with
the electorate." You can say that again.
Providing free universal childcare
Cough-o-meter: 1 (No Need For Strepsils)
The Greens would provide free childcare
from ages one to six. Some would argue
that the Greens need to prove they are
economically credible, but this is likely to
be a popular policy that would help
parents with the prohibitive cost of raising
a family.
Give everyone a citizens income of £71
a week
Cough-o-meter: 4 (A Spluttering Sneeze)
The Greens want to give everyone living in
Britain - no matter how wealthy - £71 a
week.
The "Citizen's Income" would cost up to
£280bn. The party says this is a long term
ambition rather than concrete policy going
into the 2015 election - but the thought of
giving millionaires more money is likely to
be a voter turn-off.
Decriminalise cannabis
Cough-o-meter: 2 (A Tickle In The Throat)
Drug possession would be decriminalised,
along with the cannabis trade. This is
likely to be unpopular among many voters
but will win support among the Green's
core base.
Cosying up to SNP to keep Tories out
Cough-o-meter: 2 (A Tickle In The Throat)
The Greens are in talks with the SNP
ahead of a potential hung Parliament and
have said they will do what they can to
keep the Conservatives out of
government.
This could go down well with their left-
wing voters but how influential are the
Greens likely to be with - at best - just a
couple of MPs?
