The Greens could learn from the success of Ukip

Is there a better left-wing political brand to own at the moment than that held by the Green party? It is hard to think of one.

After all, we are in the midst of a three-part BBC television profile of Greta Thunberg that even the Independent has described as ‘effectively an act of worship’; environmental awareness has become the new religion in the run-up to the UN COP26 conference in Glasgow; and the Labour Party is in the middle of an obvious crisis – communicating neither a sense of idealism nor the feeling that it might win an election anytime soon. One could also add that the less said about the Lib Dems the better, were it not for the fact that almost nothing is being said about the Lib Dems.

Nature, it is said, abhors a vacuum and lo, the Greens are indeed on the up. The latest YouGov poll last week put them level with the Lib Dems on 8 per cent – a chunky score for a party that is accustomed to fighting for fourth, fifth or sixth place in vote share against the SNP and whichever Nigel Farage entity is in the field.