Left Foot Forward interviewed the new Green Party MP at the party’s conference in Manchester.
Members of the Green Party of England and Wales are currently gathering in Manchester for their autumn conference. They are in a celebratory mood. The event takes place two months after their breakthrough general election in which the party secured a record-breaking four MPs.
One of those four newly elected MPs is Siân Berry. She’s been a major figure in the Greens for many years – having served as a member of the London Assembly from 2016 to 2024, and as the party’s co-leader from 2018 to 2021.
Now, she’s in the House of Commons where she sits on the opposition benches holding the Labour government to account. But while she certainly has extensive criticism of the Labour Party’s policies and actions since it entered government, speaking to Left Foot Forward at the Green Party Conference she is clear that she and her colleagues don’t intend to deliver opposition for the sake of opposition. Instead, she talks of their being ‘good bits’ in the Labour manifesto, and of wanting to be ‘really constructive’ with the government. She even goes so far as to praise some of its early measures on transport and on the environment.
“I’ve stood up twice in the House to praise [the Transport Secretary] Louise Haigh for getting the rail renationalisation legislation in such a simple and quick way – it’s a very short Bill, it’s really simple,” she told Left Foot Forward, before adding: “I’ve been suggesting that it’s slightly forgotten about devolution to local areas who want to set up and run companies to run their own railways. They aren’t clear yet about how Great British Railways is going to work with devolved governments and local areas like here – Greater Manchester – that already exist.
“But there’s time to fix that, and I spent a good amount of my space just saying well done because that’s a really good thing.”
Similarly, Berry is complimentary about the government’s decision to lift the band on offshore wind, branding the ban “absolutely ridiculous” and a “massive drag on progress”.
Naturally though, she has her fair share of criticism of Labour’s time in office so far. On transport – an area where she is more complimentary – she still calls for the government to go further. She told Left Foot Forward: “I really want to see some progress on not just renationalising railways, but more, better railways. I want to see more buses, I’m really passionate about buses. We’ve got a potential fares cliff-edge if they’re going to get rid of the £2 cap. It’s such a good thing. But we also need free buses for younger people. These are things I’m really, really passionate to fight for in transport.”
On other issues, particularly welfare – an area Berry will be leading on for the Greens in parliament – she is much more critical. She said: “We’ve seen two quite outrageous things from Labour, which is refusing to get rid of the two-child benefit cap within Universal Credit, and also to take away [the Winter Fuel Allowance] – without basically any notice, because who can make plans for the coming winter without having an extra year to plan ahead for the pensioners? So we’re fighting that one off, and working quite well cross-party really to make sure that votes are held.”
Offering criticism and praise of the new government is one thing, having an impact is another. So, what does Berry think the new Green MPs can deliver up against a huge Labour majority.
“It feels like there are things that we can do,” she told Left Foot Forward, adding: “There are so many Labour MPs, so they can vote down things that we’re proposing, but we’re able to make them do that. And it feels like the country is paying attention. The approval ratings for Keir Starmer are not where they should be for a new prime minister bringing hope and change. So, I think every time they’ll start to listen a bit more and we’ll be able to have genuine impact.”
“Plus there’s all these long term policy changes – the big ones that we want to see as Greens – like, we need more wealth taxes, the capital gains tax change that we think maybe we’ll be able to get through this budget. But then, building up the case for buying more council homes, making sure that the renters’ rights bill doesn’t get put off again – it’s in the King’s Speech, but it’s not in the timetable yet. So all of those things, we think our presence, starting conversations, getting things on the table will be really useful.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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