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“The Green Party could tempt the Lib Dem core”
The political big three are getting it in the neck: the Tories are fighting off UKIP; Labour too is suffering at the hands of Nigel Farage, while also battling Ed Miliband’s image problem; and the Lib Dems are staring down the barrel of political annihilation come polling day in May.
Nick Clegg’s cronies are now part of the political establishment so often despised by the electorate. Their promise of being different to the blue and red camps in Westminster has been lost – and with it large swathes of their support.
Even the core Lib Dem vote is under attack, this time from the UKIP of the left: the Green Party.
The Greens have everything the Lib Dems used to offer. They are pro-renewables, whereas the Lib Dem energy secretary Ed Davey is presiding over a department keen to cut support for onshore wind and large-scale solar – to much protestation.
The Greens oppose nuclear power – something the Lib Dems were proud to oppose as well, before Davey led his party across that line last year.
Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, even has the trump card that often drew voters towards Clegg’s party – they are not mainstream.
The Lib Dems, having spent the best part of five years within government, are now the very thing they used to oppose and be the alternative to. They are also tainted by their association with the Tories.
The Greens, especially with energy high on the agenda, could make significant inroads, tempting the Lib Dem core to a new, but strangely familiar position.
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