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“Someone has to be out there making the narrative for social security. Someone has to fight the corrosive attitudes to people on benefits,” says Siân Berry, who has just finished her first year as a Green MP in the House of Commons.
She is speaking to the Guardian in her Brighton constituency office, formerly occupied by the legendary Caroline Lucas who flew a lone flag as the only member of parliament for the Green party for 14 years.
Now, however, there are four MPs including Berry, battling together, she says, to hold the space for the left at a moment when it feels the far right has hypnotised the entire political body. “Often Adrian [Ramsay, MP for Waveney Valley] is the only one bringing up animal welfare in Defra questions, or Carla [Denyer, MP for Bristol Central] will be the only person arguing for a refugee’s right to work to the Home Office.” They have all, at different times, been the only party to raise the need for taxes on extreme wealth.
“Caroline was a lone voice in parliament,” she says. ‘But there are four of us so we can share responsibilities. We each shadow six government departments.” Berry’s portfolio covers crime and policing, justice, transport, work and pensions, culture, media and sport and democratic standards. “We absolutely have to be ready if an issue comes up. There are some issues where if a Green isn’t in the chamber asking a question, that question won’t be asked.
“Between the four of us, everyone across the country who voted Green has to be represented,” she says. “And now we have polling up to 17%, we really do feel we are representing a large number of people.”
It is a critical moment for the Green party. The elections last year had unprecedented results, with 6.7% of votes translating, thanks to several years of hard work and strategic focus, into the aforementioned four seats.
“We had a surge of new members in 2014 and 2015 and we put that money into staff and training people how to win elections. And that surge was because of Natalie Bennett who became leader back in 2012 and immediately said we must talk about more than the environment. We began to talk about austerity and reach out to the unions about workers rights,” says Berry.
In 2019, after Berry had taken over as co-leader with Jonathan Bartley, the party had more than doubled its councillors in the local elections.
The growth has continued following the election. In September, Zack Polanski was elected leader and has brought a huge wave of interest in the party, with membership doubling from 70,000 to more than 140,000, overtaking first the Liberal Democrats and then the Conservatives.
“Zack is a phenomenal leader. I was at school in 1989 when we were at 15% in the polls but it didn’t translate to winning seats in Europe at the time. Caroline Lucas was the press officer at the time and mainstream media was all we had then. Now we have social media; the vlogosphere, YouTube channels, TikTok and some absolutely get us.”
Berry has a long history in politics, spending several years as a London Assembly member. But she ran three times for the London mayor, and twice as an MP in London seats, all unsuccessfully. So success was particularly sweet when she took the Brighton seat.
“The amazing team we built up in Brighton made election day one of the best for me. Right from knocking on the first doors that morning it was clear that so many people did want another Green MP and that feeling just grew all day. Finally crossing that line with more than half the votes in the constituency was proof that positive campaigning can win big.” Lucas, of course, has left her mark. “When I am out and about with Caroline in Brighton, it’s clear how much she is still loved and appreciated by so many people who stop and thank her.
“This is the work I want to do,” says Berry. “There are a lot of rules in parliament about how things have to be done. And the rules are there to make you feel a bit awed. But I did enter along with over 300 other new MPs; they can’t make us all feel small.”
Do Labour MP’s envy her ability to speak freely? “Oh 100%. There are Labour MPs who share our values but they have to be careful. They can speak but not too often, they have to weigh up how often to go against the whips; they can sign or propose amendments with people like me, but can’t vote for them. We saw this in the votes on disabled people’s benefits and the English devolution and community empowerment bill where we have been putting forward amendments on climate and nature.
“There are the Lib Dems as well, but I would say they are not having the impact us four are having; and that’s because we stand up for things so easily.”
She is deeply concerned by the shift to the right. “I am worried. I always believed that here in this country we have a progressive majority. But now if you add together all the support for Greens, for the Lib Dems, for Labour, it’s very tight.
“I think the political space Reform is enjoying now to push its simplistic ideas is bolstered by how everyone is feeling tired, broke and worn down – and often angry too.
“Our challenge, which Zack is making great strides with, is to make sure our values of hope and building up communities are shared just as often as Reform’s. Reform is not asking people to join its party so they can work together to build community spirit and support each other in response to the problems they face. But that is almost 100% of the Green message. It is so positive to be part of a growing band of active citizens like ours.”
Berry believes that the influence on Labour isn’t just coming from Reform but also from big business such as the big housebuilders. “It’s utterly wrong what Labour are doing – I mean, they are picking on individual species like the newts, swifts bats and snails.
“To his credit the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has stood up and criticised Reform’s attacks on climate action and my feeling is that it’s the big housing developers, who want greenfield sites to add to their inventories, are exerting the most pressure on this.”
Most of all, Berry longs to see strong action on climate. “The climate situation is awful. A two degree rise is within sight. We are on a knife-edge of whether we can protect this ecosystem. It’s our only home.”
