London Greens are brilliant

And that must be true because even the Tories say so! Cough. Tory Assembly Member Roger Evans keeps a regular blog and he has recently given his verdict on the "progressive alliance" of the Greens, Labour and Lib Dems who hold 13 of the 25 seats.

He thinks that Labour have "an unerring instinct for grasping the lead lifebelts",

He feels the Lib Dems "seem content to be part of the Progressive Alliance but don't want to be too closely identified with some of their policies."

Of the two Greens, however, he is far more impressed with their performances. I think it's worth printing his assessment on the Greens in full;

Greens - The Tail Wags the Dog

With only two members, the tiny Green group managed to punch well above their weight in Ken's second term, securing funding for environmental projects as a price for agreeing the mayor's budget. With Ken gone and their votes no longer essential, the future looked grim.

However they have adjusted to the new circumstances remarkably quickly. Green member Darren Johnson, became deputy chair of the assembly and has chaired a couple of sessions in Jennette Arnold's absence. During one meeting he had left wing protestors thrown out of the chamber - surely a first for a Green politician.

Most meetings feature motions proposed by the Greens, which attract support from the other progressives, giving the impression that the Greens are actually leading the progressive agenda. The Greens raised the future of the human trafficking unit when the Home Office cut their funding, and it was the Greens who proposed the amnesty for illegal immigrants which caused such controversy in October.

Green leader Jenny Jones claims that she gets her way by being nice to the Labour group but the truth is that of all three progressive blocks, the Greens are the only ones who are clear about what they stand for as opposed to what they stand against.

Hat tip Weggis