Deputy Leader Mothin Ali joined campaigners in Queen’s Park before heading out across the ward to speak with residents. Further canvassing took place in Kingshill as the party targeted areas it believes are within reach.
Ali said the party’s recent growth had been driven by improved visibility rather than a change in policy direction.
“For a long time, the Green Party has had the right policies… but we’ve not been able to get that message out,” he said.
“Since the new leadership has been elected… it’s like a light switch has been switched on, and all of a sudden we’re getting that cut through.”
He pointed to a rise in membership as evidence of progress, adding that
“people are really, really liking what they’re hearing, and it’s having an amazing effect”.
Tom Butcher, leader of the Green group on Swindon Borough Council, said the local party had also seen significant growth.
“We’re at 600 members now, when a year ago we were at just over 100… a massive, massive uptick,” he said.
Ali used the visit to criticise what he described as long-standing political failure at national level.
“For so long, our communities have been left behind. We’ve been failed by the Conservative government, we’ve been failed by the Labour government time after time after time,” he said.
He added:
“We hear this phrase, Britain’s broken… it’s not broken at all. It works exactly how it’s meant to work… to funnel money from the very bottom to the very top, into the hands of the few.”
Marcus Kittridge, a Green candidate standing in Kingshill, said voters were increasingly disillusioned.
“The centre ground has been hollowed out quite a lot… people are disenfranchised. People are then either switching to the right or the left,” he said.
Ali also addressed the growth of right-wing political messaging around migration.
“When Reform… kept on spreading this fake narrative that migrants, that refugees… were the cause of all ills of society, that’s the message they continue to sell,” he said.
He added:
“People are fed up… the system doesn’t work for ordinary people… but when we talk to them about green policies… people who were thinking about voting Reform will very quickly switch to us, because they’re not inherently nasty.”
Tom said local activists were focusing on engagement on the doorstep.
“We’re breaking down those barriers just by getting out and talking to people… recognising our similarities over our differences,” he said.
On economic policy, Ali criticised recent government decisions affecting employers.
“I think… increasing national insurance on employers was economically illiterate. It increases the cost on employers to hire people… and when you do something like that, you depress the economy rather than stimulate it,” he said.
He added:
“We’ve seen the fiasco with so many pubs and so many restaurants… already under tremendous pressure, now facing increased costs.”
Ali said the party wanted to introduce a land value tax, which he argued
“can eventually bring in enough income to replace the outdated council tax system”.
Locally, the party said it wanted to see regeneration of Swindon town centre delivered more quickly and in a sustainable way, with a wider mix of uses beyond housing.
Tom said there was concern that new developments were not providing sufficient infrastructure.
“There’s a general feeling that a lot of houses get built, but not a lot else,” he said.
He added that some schemes risk being “drowned in flats… not the answer”.
The visit underlined the party’s growing visibility in Swindon, including Labour councillors who have joined the Greens in recent months.
Whether that increased activity translates into votes will become clear when residents go to the polls in May.
