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The Green Party also known as the Green Party UK was a Green political party in the United Kingdom. Prior to 1985 it was called The Ecology Party, and before that PEOPLE. In 1990, it separated into three political parties: * the Green Party of England and Wales * the Scottish Green Party * the Green Party in Northern Ireland Green Party is still used in most media to refer collectively to all of the Green Party of England and Wales, the Scottish Green Party and the Green Party in Northern Ireland, for example in reporting opinion polls and election results, thus giving the Green Party (UK) a kind of after-life. ==People, 1973–1975== An interview with overpopulation expert Paul R. Ehrlich in ''Playboy'' magazine inspired a small group of professional & business people to form the 'Club of Thirteen', so named because it first met on 13 October 1972 in Daventry. This included surveyors and property agents Freda Sanders and Michael Benfield, and husband and wife solicitors Lesley and Tony Whittaker (a former Kenilworth councillor for the Conservative Party), all with practices in Coventry. Many in this 'club' were wary of forming a political party so, after a few weeks, in November 1972 these four agreed to form 'PEOPLE' as a new political party to challenge the UK political establishment. Its policy concerns published in 1973 included economics, employment, defence, energy (fuel) supplies, land tenure, pollution and social security, as then seen within an ecological perspective. Subsequently recognised as perhaps the world's earliest Green party this had the first edition of the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society as a background statement of policies inspired by ''A Blueprint for Survival'' (published by ''The Ecologist'' magazine). The editor of ''The Ecologist'', Edward 'Teddy' Goldsmith, merged his 'Movement for Survival' with PEOPLE. Goldsmith became one of the leading members of the new party during the 1970s.〔Wall, Derek, ''Weaving a Bower Against Endless Night: An Illustrated History of the Green Party'', 1994〕 With "Steady State" economics featured in the party's philosophical basis,the all-UK party became a persistent and growing presence in general elections and European elections, fielding often enough candidates to qualify for television and radio election broadcasts. Derek Wall, in his history of the Green Party, contends that the new political movement focused initially on the theme of survival, which shaped the "bleak evolution" of the nascent ecological party during the 1970s. Furthermore, the effect of the "revolution of values" during the 1960s would come later. In Wall's eyes, the party suffered from a lack of media attention and "opposition from many environmentalists", which contrasted the experience of other emerging Green parties, like Germany's Die Grünen. Nonetheless, PEOPLE invested much of its resources in engaging with the indifferent environmental movement, which Wall calls a "tactical mistake".〔 In 1973 policy concerns included economics, employment, defence, energy (fuel) supplies, land tenure, pollution and social security, as then seen within an ecological perspective. "Zero growth" (or "steady state") economics were a strong feature in the party's philosophical basis. Membership rose and the party contested both 1974 General Elections. In the February 1974 General Election, PEOPLE received 4,576 votes in 7 seats. Following the election, an influx of left-wing activists took PEOPLE in a more left-wing direction, causing something of a split. This affected preparations for the October 1974 General Election, where PEOPLE's average vote fell to just 0.7%. After much internal debate the party's 1975 Conference adopted a proposal to change its name to 'The Ecology Party' in order to gain more recognition as the party of environmental concern.〔 Party co-founder Tony Whittaker noted in an interview with Derek Wall '… voters did not connect PEOPLE with ecology. What I wanted was something that the media could look up in their files so that, when they wanted a spokesman of the issue of ecology, they could find the Ecology Party and pick up the phone. It was as brutal and basic as that. PEOPLE didn’t communicate what we had hoped it would communicate'.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://another-green-world.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/green-party-hist-ch1-pt-2.html )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Green Party (UK)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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