The UK Green Party has built a version of the kickstarter for elections I proposed last year: they’re signing up people who promise to vote Green if enough of their neighbours will do the same.
I’ll Vote Green If You Do is an attempt to break the traditional collective action problem for third parties: no one wants to risk “throwing away” their votes for a party that “can’t win” — and the reason the party can’t win is that no one can be sure if their neighbours will follow their suit.
I joined the Greens last year, after bitter disappointment with the Labour and Libdem parties’ record on progressive issues, like surveillance, school fees, corporate corruption, free speech, and the environment. I want to vote for a genuine left-wing, progressive party, not some Tory-lite party that has a no-go zone wherever their policies might offend the international mega-investor class.
There’s lots of people in my constituency of Shoreditch/Hackney who seem to feel the same way. If enough of us feel this way, maybe we can shake the safe seat that Labour’s Meg Hillier (architect of the National ID card, who voted for the Digital Economy Act) occupied for so many years.