Britain, France, and the European Union - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 96

People's Party, and later the Ecology Party. Throughout its existence, it has
been stretched between its practical members who advocate moderation
in order to attract votes, and its radical members who want to voice a purer
environmental stance. While it has never elected a Member of Parliament,
it has elected some to the European Parliament. In 1999 the European
Parliament switched its election method to a proportional representation
system that allowed the party to aggregate its votes from many different
electoral districts. This system typically helps smaller parties win a few
seats. The election led to the victory for two parliamentarians to go to the
EU Parliament in Strasbourg from a vote of 6%. Proportional representa-
tion is not used for the British House of Commons, which continues to
be based on single member districts, a method called “first past the post.”
The Green Party holds a number of seats in local governments, and often
does well at this level, but in national elections, which are decided by the
first past the post, it has yet to win a seat in Commons.
In the June 1989 elections for the European Parliament, the British
Green Party had achieved startling success when it won 15% of the vote.
Unfortunately, it was an empty victory since it failed to win any seats with
the rules in effect at the time. Throughout Europe, green parties did well in
that election, with the British one gaining the highest percentage. Analysis
showed that the Green Party did best in southern England and among
middle-class voters. It took votes away from the Conservatives, but not
from Labour. In percentage terms, the party has never done as well since.
The Green Party takes positions, generally on the left, on issues rang-
ing from the economy and defense to crime and disabilities. It strongly
opposes nuclear energy.
The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
is the key agency. It is the successor to the Department of the Environment,
Transport and the Regions, and farther back, the original Department of
the Environment. The 2001 reorganization came about because of the
crisis in the failure to control the foot-and-mouth epidemic among cattle.
The public perceived the existing Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and
Food as incompetent. The original Department of the Environment in
1970 had included the transport function, but that was removed in 1976,
only to be returned in 1997. When transport was combined again with the
environmental aspects, many environmentalists were pleased because it
offered the opportunity to coordinate the policies that caused so much air
pollution with the goal of amelioration. Highways both pollute directly
with their auto traffic, and create urban sprawl that produces indirect