On a brisk weekend in early October 2025, the Green Party of England and Wales gathered in Bournemouth for an annual conference that felt unlike any before. The party, long known for its grassroots ethos and environmental focus, stood at a pivotal crossroads. With membership surging from 58,000 in December 2024 to over 88,000 by October, the Greens were flush with new faces and fresh energy. But with this growth came the daunting challenge of turning enthusiastic supporters into dedicated activists—a task that Zack Polanski, the party’s charismatic new leader, tackled head-on during his keynote speech on October 3.
According to Novara Media, the influx of members has been remarkable, largely spurred by Polanski’s growing media presence and the party’s bold, left-leaning positioning. Unlike the Conservative and Labour parties, which benefit from deep-pocketed donors and favorable media coverage, the Greens have always relied on the hard slog of door-knocking, local leafletting, and community events. Their recent rise, then, is not just symbolic; it’s a potential game-changer for a party whose main resource has always been its activist base.
At the Bournemouth conference, the atmosphere was electric. The setpiece speeches delivered by Polanski and his co-deputies weren’t merely crafted for headlines—they were designed to ignite what sociologist Émile Durkheim called “collective effervescence.” Multiple attendees described being moved to tears, a testament to the party’s newfound unity and sense of purpose. As writer and activist Michael Chessum, a recent Green convert, quipped, “I used to leave Labour conferences hating both myself and my party. Not feeling either of those things is kind of weird.”
But beneath the surface, the Greens face challenges familiar to any rapidly expanding organization. The party’s membership boom has been fueled in part by younger, left-leaning former Labour supporters, raising the specter of generational conflict. Yet, as Chessum observed, “In any other political organisation, you’d expect a massive influx of young left members to generate a huge amount of conflict with older members – but by and large I haven’t encountered that.” This surprising harmony is rooted in a consensus that’s been building for over a decade. “In 2014, leftist members had to argue over ‘capitalism is bad, migration is good’, now those things are settled,” said Benali Hamdache, a Green councillor in Islington. Even older members agree that the party’s ideological direction is no longer up for debate.
One area where the Greens have decisively staked their ground is on trans rights. Internal disputes over gender have been resolved, with the party passing a trans healthcare policy at this year’s conference without a single voice of opposition. As Polanski told Novara Media, the party has “moved on” from its earlier disputes, signaling a clear stand in solidarity with trans people.
Still, unity and purpose are only the beginning. The real test for the Greens is organizational: can they harness this groundswell of support and transform it into electoral power? Co-deputy leader Rachel Millward believes the answer lies in fundraising. Unlike Reform, Labour, or the Tories, the Greens lack wealthy backers and must rely on small donations. In 2024, £4.2 million of their £5.2 million income came from membership fees or donations under £500. Millward is candid about the need to “go from second to fifth gear in six months,” drawing inspiration from U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who famously built her campaign on small-dollar contributions. “We need to be asking people for fivers and tenners, like AOC,” Millward said, signaling a break from the traditional British political aversion to public fundraising.
For Polanski, the key to lasting change is authentic grassroots leadership. He cited New York’s Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist known for mobilizing communities from the ground up, as a model. “I see my role, yes, to be a frontperson for our policies, [but] the real work happens on that conference floor, in the communities, and the local parties. It’s grassroots up,” Polanski explained. Still, he acknowledged the party’s current shortcomings: “What we don’t have at the moment is the infrastructure – knowing, when people arrive in the party, how do you funnel that energy as quickly as possible into material change at the local party level?” It’s a frank admission, and one that underscores the Greens’ reliance on self-organizing members willing to put in the hard work of canvassing and community engagement.
During his keynote, Polanski also waded into one of the thorniest issues in British politics: immigration. As The Telegraph reported, Polanski pledged that a Green government would “stop the small boats” by providing safe and legal routes for migrants, rather than forcing them into dangerous crossings. “We would allow the small boats’ prospective passengers to enter Britain by safe and legal routes instead,” he promised. The proposal, however, drew sharp criticism from some quarters. Critics argued that Polanski’s plan might “encourage even more” migrants to come, rather than solving the root problems that voters associate with irregular immigration. The debate highlighted the challenges the Greens face in balancing principled policy positions with public perceptions and electoral realities.
The Green Party’s rise is happening against a backdrop of broader societal anxieties. As The Telegraph also noted, a summer 2025 report revealed that a quarter of children about to start secondary school struggled with reading. Universities, too, are offering “reading resilience” courses to help new undergraduates cope with the demands of literature degrees. These trends, though seemingly unrelated, speak to a nation grappling with rapid change and the search for new political and social narratives.
For the Greens, the coming months will be crucial. With more members than ever before, the party must decide whether its surge is merely symbolic or the beginning of a real eco-socialist movement. As Polanski put it, “Ultimately, all the money in the world can’t make that groundwork happen.” It’s up to tens of thousands of new and reinvigorated members to choose: will they remain fans on the sidelines, or step up as activists reshaping British politics from the ground up?
The answer, as ever, will be written not in headlines or soundbites, but in the tireless work of ordinary people determined to make a difference—one doorstep, one leaflet, and one conversation at a time.