Liberal Democrats have a Green pedigree

Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats president Ron McConville traces the history of the Green movement in Britain.

In 1975 the Ecology Group was started. Not many months later, 1977 saw the formation of the Liberal Ecology Group. (Only in 1985 did Ecology become the Green Party.)

Ron adds: "For the following decades we saw the constant jibes of Labour and Tory whenever our MPs spoke on environmental issues. Year after year we saw Press banging on about those sandaled, bearded Liberals. Constantly our activists were derided, quite often again on ecological issues."

He presses the leadership: "how can we convince a majority of those who now believe, and protest - vote Liberal Democrat?"

Throughout the years, the sentiment that “Each generation shall be responsible for the fate of the earth and the balance of nature” remained at the heart of Liberal constitutions and persists to this day in the Preamble to the Liberal Democrat Constitution. Part of the second paragraph reads: "We believe that each generation is responsible for the fate of our planet and, by safeguarding the balance of nature and the environment, for the long term continuity of life in all its forms."

And if our leaders ever back-slide, a very vigorous party group is there to bring them back into line: the Green Liberal Democrats.