Stroud District Green Party gained its 1,000th member on Friday, after more than doubling membership numbers in the past 12 months – a rate of increase the party says is “amazing and unprecedented”.
The news coincided with the national Green Party membership reaching a record 170,000 on the same day. Nationally, membership numbers have grown by more than 60% since the beginning of October.
The 1,000th member in Stroud District is 17-year-old A level student Dom Kenny. Dom became interested in politics because his mum is a local Green councillor. But it was only recently that he decided to become a party member, after being inspired by Zack Polanski’s call for more social and economic equality.
Dom said: “I didn’t used to be particularly into politics. Like most people I know, I see most politicians as liars who look out only for themselves and who step on the people that they claim to represent, just for personal profit.
“People are left out of government-level decision making or are actively misled, and there is increasing hatred, racism and misinformation. We have been robbed, time and time again, by politicians who just seek to stay in power. We are led by unaccountable men with vested interests and hidden agendas, who subtly shift the blame away from the super-rich to those with little or no freedom, who are struggling to cope and are longing to be heard.
“But the Greens are different: their priorities lie with the communities they serve, and they actually care about people like us. As a student, I feel represented only by the Greens, and by joining the party I am using my voice to fight for a fairer society.”
Some of the new joiners in the Stroud area had previously voted Green but had never joined as members; many are ex-Labour members who have lost faith in their party and Keir Starmer; while others previously had no political allegiance, but were inspired by Zack Polanksi, who became national party leader in September.
To mark becoming the 1,000th member of the local Greens, Dom will receive a T-shirt from a new range of Green Party merchandise available at https://stroud-district-green-party.teemill.com/
SDGP coordinator Adrian Oldman said: “We’re delighted to welcome the 1,000th member to the party locally. It’s particularly fitting that Dom is a young person, since around a quarter of national Green Party members are aged under 30 – and polling data shows that if only people aged 50 and under were to vote, the Greens would win the next general election.
“Young people are society’s future, yet for so long, politicians have ignored the issues that they face, particularly in rural areas such as Stroud. Dom is one of the many new younger members who have joined because they see the Greens as being the only party that not only cares about the issues directly affecting them, but that is also giving them hope for the future.”
Young people, and anyone on a restricted income, can join the Party from just £6 a year.
