Lucas savages Labour in tough conference speech
Friday, 4 September 2009 12:00 AM
By Jon Ashford
Green Party leader Caroline Lucas delivered a combative conference speech today, railing against those who had written the party off before the European elections and strongly criticising the Labour party for its handling of the economic crisis.
"After more than a decade of Labour government - a Labour government - inequality is higher than before they came to power," she said.
She claimed that the Green party had "sounded the alarm" over inflated property prices, deregulation and the profit motivated handling of services.
She criticised Gordon Brown and David Cameron for trying to outdo each other in promising cuts to public spending, while attempting to position the Green party as the party of "fairness" and "politics that connects with peoples' real hopes and concerns".
She also attempted to make some political hay out of the expenses scandal, calling it a "symptom of a system that is wholly dysfunctional", which requires "root and branch transformation".
As well as criticising Gordon Brown and outlining policy she also devoted a considerable portion of her speech to a triumphant recounting of the party's recent successes - aiming her comments squarely at those who might have written the Green party off.
"People don't vote Green in a recession, we were told. The planet is a luxury, they sneered, like organic kiwi fruit. Well, we've nailed that lie once and for all," she said.
She swiftly highlighted the party's European election results, appropriate given the conference's location - Brighton - where the Green's had their strongest showing.
The conference runs until the 6th of the September.
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