The Greens in Stroud District have reacted angrily to the rejection by the BBC of the Greens joining the TV General Election debate next year.
This is despite people currently joining the Party at 1000 per week, a large percentage of those coming from 18-24 olds bracket. Despite both UKIP and the Greens having one MP each, and despite the Greens and Lib Dems running virtually neck and neck in the opinion polls. Just under 200, 000 people signed an on-line petition calling for the Green Party to join the debate; but the BBC are saying no.
The BBC claimed that the relationship between the Lib Dems and Greens on membership showed that although the Lib Dems vote is dropping, the Green vote wasn’t growing substantially. (It must be remembered that in the South West that the Greens took the Lib Dem MEP seat). The BBC were also taking into serious consideration the results of the 2010 elections. Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party was quoted as saying the BBC seem to be concentrating too much on past performance rather than looking at the current interest in the Greens.
Chris Jockel, the adopted Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Stroud said “this is totally unacceptable, and whatever the final outcome, it appears to fail even the most basic test of logic; it is an erosion of democratic representation. This is the kind of behaviour we might expect of an altogether different kind of state broadcaster… not the BBC.”
He concluded: “for younger voters, the political scene is changing rapidly, especially through the internet media and by the Scottish Referendum. It has woken people up to the realisation that you don’t have to vote for any of the three, tired indistinguishable Party leaders or a wild card UKIP comedian”!