End the political bias towards Tories and Labour so Gen Z's opinions can be heard in Parliament through smaller parties

Carla Denyer, Green's co-leader, recently told the BBC that the party was already a ‘’good way through’’ achieving this. Hopefully, this year can be turning point, as my Generation Z think it’s about time smaller parties, like the Green Party, get more representation in Parliament to break the two-party duopoly in the Commons.

Tackling climate change is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges we have ever faced, yet it seems to be remarkably low on the political priority list. The Conservatives have already apathetically (and frustratingly) pushed back net- zero goals, leaving the UK stuck in a perpetual stalemate when it comes to the environment. The commitment to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars has been pushed back, and the banning of fossil fuel boilers has been delayed, making the chance of Britain reaching net zero in the foreseeable future even more unlikely.

Speaking on behalf of my Politics A Level class, I can say we would welcome a Green Party success as it’s about time a party that truly prioritises the environment gets more representation. Solving the climate problem is such an important issue for our generation given that it’s our generation that will suffer the most from the environmental damage. When speaking with another Gen Z about the Green Party, they claimed people our age would be ‘’out of their minds’’ not to support what the Green Party stands for.

I accept it’s almost impossible for parties like the Greens to dominate Parliament, as the non-proportional FPTP electoral system always penalises smaller parties. Sadly I suspect that most people believe voting for the Green Party is futile and an utter waste, because in 2019, incredulously, it took them 866,435 votes to elect one MP, whereas to elect one Conservative MP it only took 38,264. There is an inherent bias in the electoral system toward the two main parties and an evident distortion of results. All we ask for is a small win, with the Green Party increasing its seats by two or three, or even that the main parties begin to treat climate change like the urgent issue it is.

A 2023 survey conducted among UK residents shows that more than 80 percent had some concern about climate change, so other parties need to follow the Green Party’s lead in prioritising the environment.

Isn’t it time minor parties, like Green, get more representation in Parliament in order to dismantle the two party dominance everyone seems to be exasperated with?