Will the Green Party split the socialist vote?

The Green Party have 117 councillors in 43 local authorities and are fielding 1,600 candidates on May 5. That is up slightly on last time.

As has been mentioned in an earlier post they are hoping to gain control of Brighton and Hove giving them their first council. But they are also hoping for gains in Norwich, Bristol, Sheffield and Lancaster.

But where will they take votes from? Some may regard them as fluffy, respectable and idealistic. The reality is that they are an extreme left wing anti capitalist party. Much of their programme would be counter productive. For instance their anti car approach involves backing more road humps - which means more pollution.