Liberal-Green Alliance (Northumbria)

Liberal-Green Alliance
Founded	08/01/20
Headquarters	Newcastle upon Tyne
Ideology	• Liberalism  • Green politics  • Social liberalism  • Liberal environmentalism  • Secularism  • Feminism Internal Factions  • Liberalism  • Green politics  • Feminism
Political position	Centre-left
Colours	Green
Seats in the Parliament	4 / 41
Seats in the Witan	0 / 25

The Liberal-Greens Alliance is a political party in the Kingdom of Northumbria. Created to offer voters an alternative to right-wing and socialist politics, the Alliance sends four MPs to Parliament, most of whom come from constituencies in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, the country's de facto capital. They are currently a member of the opposition.

The Alliance is a coalition of left-leaning liberals, environmentalists and feminists; as a result, the party is broadly socially liberal and economically centre-left. The party generally relies on university students and graduates for their votes, and so are mostly located in cities with large universities and younger populations.

Socially, the party promotes LGBT+ rights, abortion rights, cannabis legalisation and affirmative action among other things to address social inequalities. Economically, the party broadly supportes Keynesian economics, and regularly works with the larger Socialist Party to push for wage increases and greater public spending.

The party is strongly secularist, and supports a complete overhaul of Northumbria's constitution to remove the powers of the nobility to appoint representatives to the Witan, including the Prince Bishop's right to appoint Lords spiritual.

History

Party formation (November 2020 - March 2021)

The LGA's spiritual predecessor is the Sorrenian New Democratic-Liberty Party, one of the oldest parties in Sorrenia which traces its lineage back to the Liberty Party first established in 2012 in Kozlova. Despite this, the LGA maintains no direct link to the NDLP; the latter's most recent leader, Harry Jones, is a member of the Christian Democrats. Nevertheless, the NDLP is taken as a key source of inspiration for how a moderate centre-left force can achieve success, as the party entered into government in three of the four sessions of the Kingdom of Sorrenia's Parliament.

The LGA, like most Northumbrian parties, was founded in January 2021 after a period of democratisation initiated by Rilgar Ompastre and the National Democratic Party. The Liberal Party's founder was previously one of the four pro-government independents elected in the November 2020 general election.

Created as a coalition of three distinct parties - the Liberal Party, the Green Party and the Equality Party - the LGA is organisationally diffuse and varied in opinion. Each sub-party is allowed to retain its own membership and structure, and nominates candidates for Parliament who then stand as an LGA candidate.

In opposition (March 2021 - present)

The LGA won 10% of the vote and four seats in the March 2021 general election, placing them as the joint fourth largest party. Most of this support was centred in the Tyneside urban area and the City of Durham. The party as a result has lurched into its credentials as a socially liberal party for students and university graduates, who comprise the core of the LGA's base of support.

The LGA took up their seats as opposition members.

Ideology

The Liberal-Green Alliance positions itself between the centrist National Democratic Party and the left-wing Socialist Party. It is considered centre-left, endorsing a form of liberal social democracy.

Electoral Performance

Most of the LGA's voters are university students or graduates located in one of Northumbria's cities. Newcastle upon Tyne and the wider Tyne urban area makes up most of the party's base of support, complemented by the City of Durham. Both cities have populations which are younger than the national average and also have large university sectors. Outside of these areas however, the LGA's support is limited, pushed out from the left by the Socialist Party and from the centre by the National Democratic Party.

Election year	Leader	%	+/-	seats won	+/-	Government
November 2020		2	N/A	1 / 41	N/A	No in opposition
March 2021		10	▲ 8%	4 / 41	▲ 3	No in opposition
July 2021				1 / 41	▼ 3	No in opposition
November 2021				4 / 41	▲ 3	Yes in coalition government
April 2022				4 / 41	0	No in opposition
November 2022				0 / 41	▼ 4	No extra-parliamentary
May 2023				0 / 41	0	No extra-parliamentary
December 2023				2 / 41	▲ 2	No in opposition
February 2024				3 / 41	▲ 1	No in opposition
August 2024				4 / 41	▲ 1	No in opposition

Factions

The Liberal-Green Alliance is an electoral alliance consisting of three sub-parties: the Liberal Party, the Green Party and the Equality Party. Each retain their own internal party structure and organisations, but choose to sit in Parliament and run in elections as members of the LGA.

Liberals

The Liberal Party is a broad centre-left party mostly made up of socially liberal students and graduates. It is also the largest sub-party, and consists of members turned off by the explicit adoption of socialism in the Socialist Party. The party is comparable to the left of the British Liberal Democrats, embracing social liberalism, a form of soft social democracy and exhibiting a strong degree of pro-European sentiment.

Greens

The Green Party is the only political entity in Northumbria to originate in green politics. More particularly, the Greens endorse a form of green liberalism, and like the other sub-parties are strongly socially liberal. The Greens are noteworthy for supporting a hypothetical coalition with the Christian Democrats, a socially conservative but agrarian and environmentalist party, suggesting perhaps that the Greens are more willing to postpone social policy in favour of advancements in ecological policy.

Rather uniquely for environmentalist parties, the Greens endorse limited use of nuclear power as an intermediary step towards a fully green zero carbon economy, though are strongly opposed to the existence of nuclear arms. Due to fears over nuclear waste however, the party recommends only minimal use of nuclear power to deal with surges in demand until green energy sources can be fully relied upon.

Feminists

The Equality Party is a feminist party and the smallest of the three sub-parties. It is somewhat modelled on the British Women's Equality Party and places a strong emphasis on trans rights and intersectionality. They are generally the most left-wing of the LGA, influenced more by postcolonial and postmodern feminism than by liberal feminism.