The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

No Green in a rainbow coalition

Caroline Lucas outlines the Green Party’s ambitions for the next parliament and beyond.

By Alyssa McDonald Published 10 May 2010 11:03

Those who are still hoping beyond hope for a Labour-led "rainbow coalition" to challenge the Conservatives' attempts to form a government should probably give up the dream now.

Some optimistic souls had suggested that Labour could reach a majority by joining forces with MPs from the Social Democratic Labour Party, the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party. But, in an interview for the New Statesman's post-election issue, Caroline Lucas -- the Green leader and the newly elected MP for Brighton Pavilion -- has confirmed that her party won't be forming an alliance any time soon, though she didn't rule out support completely.

As Lucas told me:

I think we would rule out a formal coalition, but we're very interested in talking about ways we might co-operate.

But now that the Greens have a presence at Westminster, they seem to have their sights set on more ambitious goals:

It's only one seat -- but it's the first seat. It was only 24 years between the first Labour MP and the first Labour government.

Read the full interview in the next issue of the New Statesman, out on Wednesday.

Special offer: get 12 issues for just £5.99 plus a free copy of "Liberty in the Age of Terror" by A C Grayling.

More from Alyssa McDonald

View the discussion thread.

12 comments

Tue, 2010-05-11 12:09 — slightlyiratecouncillor

I don't understand why the _NS_ haven't altered the title / subtitle of this piece to reflect reality (unless no-one from their staff reads these comments, and they also ignore the twittersphere).
See http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/05/greens-on-board-for-a-progressive... for the real situation - and note Caroline's explicit repudiation of this _NS_ story: "Misleading hdline (http://bit.ly/93LAhJ) fr @newstatesman - @CarolineLucas happy to consider confidence/supply w/ reform-oriented coalition."

Sat, 2010-05-15 15:35 — GabrielM

To readers who may be puzzled, here is credit to Alyssa McDonald for having removed her sarcastic "Dream on."

Mon, 2010-05-10 11:20 — Frederick Chichester

"It's only one seat - but it's the first seat. It was only 24 years between the first Labour MP and the first Labour government".

Dream on.

Mon, 2010-05-10 11:26 — Dermot (not verified)

What a nasty thing to post - 'Dream On' - Im no green, I'm a Labour supporter, but it is a very reasonable aspiration for the first MP from a Party which hopes to build. Fair play to Caroline Lucas, I wish her well.

Mon, 2010-05-10 11:30 — JohnRuddy

I think it all depends on if we get PR. If we do, then I can see the Greens (maybe not at first but over the course of time) gaining enough seats to form PART of a coalition government - they have been part of Government in Germany, for instance.

Mon, 2010-05-10 11:41 — slightlyiratecouncillor

This headline is deeply misleading! OF COURSE we are not about to join a full-scale COALITION. But Caroline has explicitly said here that she IS potentially willing to co-operate with such a govt. Such a co-operation agreement - like in the Green MSPs have participated in in Scotland, these last 3 years - could keep such a government in business.
Please alter this headline, NS! You are materially harming the chances of a rainbow govt - say a Lib/Lab coalition, with a Co-operation Agreement with the SDLP, Alliance, Nats and Greens - from emerging! You are helping to put the Tories in no.10...

Mon, 2010-05-10 12:35 — Dream On? Okay (not verified)

Yes, dream on. It would appear that is what we need from the Greens: an articulation of what is possible outside of the standard discourse.

This will start with aspirations, and therefore from dreams.

Mon, 2010-05-10 14:57 — Seth Wagoner (not verified)

It won't be a "coalition" but an "alliance". The Greens can and should offer "confidence and supply" in exchange for appropriate concessions, thus increasing the size of the "big tent" and more importantly, showing their support for PR, which they desperately need if they are ever going to get more than a single MP in the house. At least, that's my theory. See sethop.com for (much) more detail.

Mon, 2010-05-10 15:40 — AnOxfordUndergraduate (not verified)

I agree with "slightlyiratecouncillor". The title is very misleading, and the first sentence of the article is somewhat at odds with the following content... a "confidence and supply" arrangement could benefit the Greens and be appealing to it's growing electoral base.

Mon, 2010-05-10 15:50 — Warwick Dumas (not verified)

The subtitle is pretty misleading as well. "Caroline Lucas outlines the Green Party's ambitions for the next parliament and beyond."? So that, in the text, would take the form of 2 short soundbites then.

One of which suggests how you might modify the headline:
"Green cooperation with Rainbow coalition would be informal only"

Tue, 2010-05-11 21:18 — GabrielM

Highly misleading title, reporting factually wrong, and a very negative tone from Alyssa McDonald.

Given that the achievement of electing the WORLD's first Green MP on a First-past-the-post system -- not just the first Green MP in the Westminster Parliament -- the least that is owed to Caroline Lucas, to the Green Party, and to the 16,236 voters in Brighton Pavilion who elected her, is fair and unbiased reporting.

Even though the attempted "rainbow" coalition has now failed, the New Statesman should be doing better than this.