Bring on the Green surge

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Despite the best efforts of Labour, Ukip and the Lib Dems to turn fire on Cameron over his election debate call to include the Greens, it is their own opportunism, as much as Cameron's, that has been exposed. Regardless of Cameron's reasons for demanding that the Greens get their seat in the debates, he is right and the other parties are wrong. In fact Ofcom and the broadcasters have done the Green Party a massive favour by trying to exclude them - even if they were a 'minor' party before, claiming that today after their membership eclipsed both LDs and Ukip, is untenable.< The massive Green membership surge is a direct response from ordinary people to the attempt by the broadcasters and mainstream parties to exclude the Greens. People can smell a rat - a poll showed 79 per cent wanted the Greens included in the debate. Rightly they want to hear all views including those that present a real alternative, rather than just various shades of neoliberalism (which under Balls and Miliband, is what we are being offered by Labour). This is the start of the English phase of the surge of anti-Westminster parties that began in Scotland. Until now voters have been told that Ukip is the only anti-Establishment party south of the border, but the very fact of exclusion from TV debates is backfiring spectacularly as people realise that the Up Theres don't want us Down Here to hear the alternatives. They are terrified that the debate could lead to a Green equivalent of Cleggmania, which followed the 2010 debates and catapulted the Lib Dems into government (where they sold us out). It's a nightmare for the quartet of neoliberal parties that the left-wing Greens could in anyway become kingmakers after the poll and, further ahead, become a new radical left of centre party in England. And it's fantastic that so many people are committed to real change! People on the left should support this progressive trend in our otherwise pretty dismal political scene. Truth is, Labour will only do anything radical if they are compelled to by other political forces, which could include the SNP and the Green Party. I look forward to some pretty tough negotiations after May 10 over the future of the Trident missile programme, which could help bury this massive white elephant. Bring it on.