Scot Peter Cranie in frame to lead English Green Party

Cranie will learn tomorrow if his pledge to dismantle the party’s reputation as a “white, middle-class party” has won support among activists.

“What I would hope to do is broaden our appeal from our middle-class base. As leader I would be the person that speaks for the party and hopefully persuades members through moral argument,” he said. “I am a working-class Scot who can show that there is more to the party.”

He is not the only candidate who wants to change the way the Greens present themselves. There has been a period of reflection within the party in England – which is distinct from the Scottish party led by the MSP Patrick Harvie.

The Greens have made incremental progress in local government, winning just five seats in this year’s council election, taking their total to 135 in England. They came third in the London mayoral election, have two MEPs and two members of the London Assembly.

But there remains a belief that the party has failed to live up to its potential, despite the high profile of current leader and sole MP, Caroline Lucas, who is standing down.

Cranie, 40, believes the way forward is to switch the Greens’ focus from the environment to the economy. He wants the party to reach out to the most vulnerable, including those affected by unemployment and poor housing. It is a left-leaning agenda that dovetails with his earlier incarnation as a Labour Party member.

Although Cranie enjoyed a brief flirtation with Green politics when he studied at Keele University, he was persuaded by a Scottish uncle to join the Labour Party when John Smith was elected leader. Cranie stayed with Labour until he became disillusioned by Tony Blair’s policies and let his membership lapse in 1998. “I thought Blair’s government would be more radical and more redistributive and I wanted something that would change society more.”

Cranie’s left-wing credentials were shaped early on. He grew up in Bo’ness but when his father lost his job – because of Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies, he claims – the family moved to High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Cranie was 11 and found the move to the Home Counties difficult. “My father worked in computer maintenance and he had to move jobs several times but then there simply wasn’t a job any more,” he said.

“He was faced with a choice of either going on the dole or moving away from his family to find work. So we ended up in High Wycombe when I was 11, which is why I have a Scottish accent but my younger brother and younger sister have English accents.”

Growing up the son of a Catholic Scottish father and Protestant Yorkshire mother gave him an unwelcome insight into sectarianism. A Celtic supporter, related to the player Jimmy Quinn, he was brought up Catholic but lived in a mostly Protestant area.

“I remember being picked on by boys from the local Protestant secondary school when they saw our uniform from a Catholic school,” he said. “It is one of my formative experiences and helped shape my views on social justice.”

After graduating he sold Walkers crisps then became a bank financial adviser. It was a poor career fit and he soon gave it up to study social work. He now lectures in social care at West Lancashire College.

He moved into Green politics in 2000, appalled by George Bush’s policies, including his refusal to rule out drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The married father of two, who lives in Liverpool, became a key figure in the north-west of England branch of the party, turning it from a disparate protest group into an effective political force.

Liverpool City Council now has two Green councillors, one of whom polled 53 per cent, despite standing for the only party that wanted to increase council tax. Cranie won plaudits after narrowly missing out on becoming an MEP in 2009. He was beaten by the BNP’s Nick Griffin. At a national level, he has been the Green Party’s executive elections co-ordinator and its spokesperson on children, schools and families.

His leadership campaign has highlighted opportunities to pick up votes from disillusioned Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters. “About half of Lib Dem supporters are looking for a new political home and Labour has long abandoned left-wing politics,” he said. “If we are honest about tax and champion protecting services as well as increasing tax on the rich then I think we can fill that gap.”

Cranie’s rivals are Pippa Bartolotti, leader of the Welsh Green Party, Natalie Bennett, a former Guardian journalist, and Romayne Phoenix, a former London councillor.

When it comes to Scottish independence, he is relaxed. “To be honest, if I was in Scotland and saw what was happening to the NHS and social care in England I would vote for independence, but it’s up to people in Scotland to determine what they want to do as a nation.”

Other candidates standing for leader of the Green Party

Pippa Bartolotti

Welsh Green leader and a mother of three, she is a former chief executive of Encrypta Electronics. A passionate human rights campaigner, she was once arrested by Israeli security forces. More recently she appeared on

Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me.

Natalie Bennett

An Australian-born former journalist, the 46-year-old was the editor of the Guardian Weekly and is chair of the Camden Green Party in north London.

Romayne Pheonix

A mother of three and a London councillor, she is chair of the Coalition of Resistance, a group opposed to government austerity. She is a member of Unite and has served on Lewisham Council from 2006-10 and on the party’s national executive committee from 2010-11.