Principal Speaker

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Principal Speakers and public spokespersons of the Green Party of England and Wales and are the nearest equivalent the Green Party has to the leader most other parties have. There are two principal speakers, one male and one female. They perform the public and media role undertaken by the leaders of more convention-following parties. Green Parties often consider joint leadership of this kind to embody the widely-held Green beliefs in consensus decision making and gender balance. It also symbolises their belief in the need for a society in which people are empowered and involved in making the decisions which affect them.

Critics of the system have said that the name is not transparent to the public, that it wastes valuable time in the media explaining the system, that it lacks credibility and that it fails to provide political direction at the top of the party. Certainly, visibility has been a problem for the Green Party since its heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Since late 2006, the principal speakers are Siân Berry and Derek Wall. Both are supporters of Green Left, an eco-socialist group within the party.

Wall had been narrowly beaten by Keith Taylor in November 2005 (after controversy about Taylor's media performance^{[citation needed]}) by 851 votes to 803. However, in November 2006 Wall then beat Taylor by 767 votes to 705.

Wall's incumbency has so far however been pockmarked with media relations challenges, including Wall turning down media opportunities,^{[citation needed]} and a the headline at the 2007 Spring Conference " Green Party 'doesn't need leader' " ... says Green leader. See BBC news

[edit] Current Debate

At the conference in Swansea (spring 07) the Party decided to hold a ballot on whether the posts should be changed to a party leader and deputy leader (with the option for co-leaders if two people run together on that basis) with a vote on the Executive and responsibility for external campaigning. The motion was passed with two significant amendments. The preamble which advocated the change was cut and the time for debate was extended from July to October. Despite the strong passions this issue raises in the party what has most struck participants is the constructiveness of the discussion[1].

Critics of the present system include Caroline Lucas MEP, Darren Johnson AM, Mark Lynas and Jonathon Porritt. An internal poll conducted on behalf of party chair Andrew Cornwell showed that a majority of Green party councillors polled were in favour of change. A poll in Wales before the creation of a Welsh leader found over 80% of the membership in favour. People in favour of the current system include Derek Wall and Jenny Jones AM.

Some like councillor Matt Sellwood, while in favour in principle for designating a leader, are opposed to the current proposal because the term of reelection would be extended to two years.