Spring 2009 (Blackpool Winter Gardens, 20th-23rd March)
The conference guide, with final agenda etc can be viewed HERE.
1. SPEECHES AND MEDIA
In the leader's speech, Caroline Lucas said that the big three parties were incapable of meeting the moral challenge of climate change.
She likened the government's half-hearted approach to those who, in times past, have stood in the way of other kinds of progress, from abolishing slavery to acknowledging women's rights. "Imagine if they'd said: slavery is wrong, so let's cut down a bit - own one slave instead of two... Or if instead of letting women vote, our husbands had just agreed to ask us our views before they went to vote."
The government, she said, was responding to the climate crisis with "a few low-energy light-bulbs here, a bit of loft insulation there."
The speech was covered by News24, appeared on the 6pm and 10pm BBC1 television news, and in the Independent.
Adrian Ramsay, in the deputy leader's speech, spoke about the greed of the big banks, which took huge risks to boost short-term share values.
"They handed out loans to people who could never afford to repay. They bought and sold these dodgy loans in a scramble to make a quick buck."
(Covered in the Norwich Evening News).
He also spoke about our support for the CWU campaign to keep Royal Mail public, and about the role every member can play in getting more Greens elected:
"Green councillors don't grow on trees - they grow from the leaflets that you plant in letterboxes, and from the seeds that you sow in conversations on doorsteps in target wards."
Opening the conference, Peter Cranie, lead European candidate in the North West, explained how the race for the last European seat there was between the BNP and the Greens.
2. POLICY MOTIONS
A. ECONOMICS
C01 "commits the party to campaign for an emergency programme of economic and social reconstruction, based on the proposals of the Green New Deal pamphlet, but broadened and reinforced to transform fundamentally the current financial and industrial system".
C11 sets up a guide to a new global financial architecture that aims to achieve balanced trade between countries, negotiated and fixed exchange rates, and a neutral international currency linked to the right to produce carbon dioxide. C12 adopted a monetary policy aiming to restrict the rights of commercial banks and other financial institutions to exert an unacceptably large influence on the economy, shifting the focus of lending to sustainable production.
B. ENVIRONMENT
A motion supporting Europe-wide renewable energy initiatives, such as concentrating solar power plants and highly efficient long-distance high voltage DC transmission lines, was passed (C10). A call to support carbon capture and storage pilot projects was defeated, with opponents arguing that this would take money and attention away from renewable.
A motion opposing attempts at planetary geo-engineering through the use of proposed techniques such as ocean fertilisation was passed (C14). Motions C06 and C07 referring to general climate change policy were referred back for further work.
C. WOMEN'S ISSUES
A major set of policies on domestic abuse, including domestic violence, which was developed in close consultation with Green councillors, was passed without opposition. Among its provisions were calls for relationship education in schools to inculcate respect for others, multiagency working to identify abuse and improve prevention and early intervention efforts, and for domestic violence shelters to be given guaranteed permanent funding.
On maternity services, conference passed C05 (with amendment 1), calling for a full range of birth options to be available to all women, and supporting midwifery-led care along the model provided by independent midwives.
Also passed was a motion calling for the forthcoming Equality Act to provide for gender pay audits, for unions and individuals to be more easily able to start equal pay cases, and for a requirement on major companies to have at least 40 per cent of their boards female (as is now the case in Norway).
D. MIGRATION
Noting that migration is going to be an important issue in the forthcoming European elections, and the need for a progressive and humane policy, the migration policy of the European Green Party was adopted as our own.
E. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
An extensive policy on intellectual property was adopted. It aims to "support the Green value of greater sharing, and while giving reasonable protection to creative people makes it generally more difficult to obtain patents and similar forms of protection than at present".
3. EMERGENCY MOTIONS
Emergency motions were passed:
- opposing the government's nuclear consultation
- calling on the government to reverse its Heathrow third runway decision
- on the funding of rape crisis centres, calling for these to be securely funded as a core service
- opposing further support for the privatisation of military training;
- supporting students demanding that universities divest both from the arms trade and other organisations which directly or indirectly haven financially contributed to the military and economic oppression of the people of Gaza.
- condemning the government decision to talk out the Fuel Poverty Bill
- opposing the construction of a medical research "SuperLab" in central London, beside the Eurostar terminal
4. PANEL SESSIONS
Five panel sessions were held, the topics being: "Economic inclusion: can the poor afford a green agenda?"; The failure of the ‘growth economy': towards new economic solutions; energy colutions for a renewable future; maternity services reborn; and, air-rage: putting a brake on aviation.
A couple of quotes for flavour:
Nic Marks, New Economics Foundation: "A failed growth economy is not the same as a steady state economy."
Dr Wendy Savage, obstetrician and NHS defender: "Tears come to my eyes when see videos of births at home; we have made such a mess of birth in the NHS."
