Meh

I've come away from my first GP conference feeling rather apathetic and not very motivated to campaign for the party nationally. (However, I still strongly support York Central's candidate Andy Chase, who does motivate me to get out there and campaign).

I was particularly disappointed that the original maximum/minimum wage motion was not passed with an amendment changing this:

C. For maximum income limit of 10 times the National Minimum Wage, through the establishment of a 100% rate of income tax on taxable personal income above that level.

to this:

(c) a new top rate of income tax to be levied on incomes over 10 times the National Minimum Wage

There was a lot of talk about how having a 100% tax rate would alienate some of our potential voters. I seriously doubt it. Under the current motion it would mean workers would not be able to earn over £81,700. The vast majority of the UK populace earns under this level, we would be talking about a policy which would affect under 1% of workers, people who most probably would never consider voting for us in the first place, as many of our other policies would not be in their interest. It is only with radical policies that we will really catch the attention of voters, not by putting out watered down policies for fear of upsetting a few Tory voters. There is real potential for the Green Party to attract disillusioned trade unionists who can no longer stomach New Labour and we will not do it by tinkering around the status quo.

I was also surprised by the amount of suits wandering round conference. It appears this number has grown year on year, and the suits seemed to be the those who did not support the good motions put through on maximum wage and right to rent.

The conference venue was also very dreary. No communal area for socialising (or networking if you prefer) was available until the evening. Thankfully the Malborough Arms proved a good venue for Green Left to meet in :-)

Oh well, let's see what this year brings with a new leader and GPEx. To quote this Simpsons:

The leader is good,
the leader is great.
We surrender our will,
as of this day.