SIR, If one was tasked with wording an election manifesto specifically designed not to get you elected one would struggle to do better than that of the Green Party. While I am in no position to dispute the claims of Green candidate Chris Were that the party has dramatically increased its membership recently, I would doubt very much if many of those new members were fully aware of the truly surreal list of policies they were signing up to. Like me I am sure most people have until recently considered the Greens to be a sort of hard left faction of the Labour Party with more of a focus on the environment and the evils of consumerism. As it turns out they are nothing of the kind. It is in fact quite difficult to define what they are, using normal political language. Their commitment to abolish the monarchy and put the Queen in a council house, raise taxes and force the BBC to broadcast educational programs during prime time, makes them sound a bit Communist in my opinion. But what label would you apply to a party that seemingly wants to abolish the idea of the nation state, decriminalise drugs and brothels, slash the armed forces and turn their bases into nature reserves and make a recession an actual economic target to reduce consumption? The old idea that the Greens are a harmless bunch of sandal-wearing hippies sipping organic tea does not stack up against a manifesto that, if enacted, would turn the UK into an undefended economic basket case where drug dealers and prostitutes operate freely. One would hope that the scales will fall from eyes of new Green Party members and that they will cut up their membership cards forthwith. Gareth Dunn (UKIP PPC Monmouthshire)