New splinter group divides Greens

THE beleaguered Green Party faces a further round of in- fighting with the formation of another breakaway group, which threatens to turn itself into a rival party, writes David Nicholson-Lord.

The Campaign for Political Ecology, known as Eco, has been launched, initially as a 'think tank', by disenchanted party members after the demise of Green Realignment, a splinter movement launched last year and supported by green luminaries including Jonathon Porritt and Sara Parkin. The Green Party is now considering a 'purge' of members who belong to Eco.

Judy Maciejowska, a former co-chair of the Green Party who resigned in 1992 and now chairs Eco, described the proposals as McCarthyite. She said: 'The people behind this were the ones who held us back after the 1989 Euro-elections, when we won 15 per cent of the vote. They are still doing it.'