Brighton Pavilion is an odd constituency. Its inhabitants belong in a Richard Curtis film; they are ex-City types or commuters who arrived looking for an escape from the rat-race and were seduced by the village-esque aesthetic of the local Bakers', Butchers' and Candlestick Makers' long before it was fashionable (darling). They raise their children on organic and often exotic, vegetables. One of its schools once put on a musical about a wolf with dreadlocks who campaigned successfully to prevent a forest from being chopped down, complete with concluding rendition of Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind. Truly, it is an eco-liberal paradise.

Where else would the Green Party gain its first seat? It has been eighteen months since Caroline Lucas was elected to parliament. What has been achieved over this time is a policy of 'No Meat Mondays' in all Council-run canteens, and vague suggestions for drug legalisation. Whilst this may sound disappointing, it is only to be expected: the Green Party is a party of abstract ideology.

Reading through their Manifesto, you are unlikely to uncover much that is objectionable. Indeed, they are the only party currently represented in parliament which believes that there cannot be unlimited economic growth - a standpoint which must be applauded given the continuing economic climate. This is only slightly eclipsed by beautifully understated, if not dubious, immigration policy (I quote: 'Migration policies should not discriminate directly on grounds of race, colour, religion, political belief, disability, sex or sexual orientation').

The buzzword, you'll soon discover, is 'fair'. It is not 'fair' that public pensions should be so small. It is not 'fair' that the rich should get richer and the poor get poorer. It is not 'fair' that the people should bail out the banks. Anti-rhetoric at its finest, 'fairness' is not a case of good and evil, of moral corruption. 'Fairness' is not even quite 'just': it is the gentle acknowledgement that there are a few unpleasant things in this world. It is the judgement of apolitical liberalism.

The ex-Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar, once claimed that the ecological movement is the Communism of the 21st century, the new incarnation of anti-capitalism. Yet the very key to the Green Party's success - and their fundamental flaw - is their apoliticality. They are not out to incite the workers of the world to lose their chains; indeed, it seems they have yet to address the substantial issue that living ecologically is not economically viable for these 'workers', and for a large number of people in the UK - surely a consideration which should come high on their agenda.

But the Green Party is a party of abstract ideology. They represent not so much defeatism as a turning away from the nasty, dirty world of British politics. It is Communism minus Communism's driving desire to overthrow the status quo. Much has been achieved under the current government in advancing sustainability, but this has been as a result of international agreements set down under previous government, not the new Green presence in Westminster.

It is a mistake to envision the Green Party as the liberal offspring of the middle-ground, or as a viable liberal alternative. The fact is that in its present incarnation, the Green Party are unlikely to make an impact as a political party. Indeed, they are not so much a political party as symbolically political. Until they address the fact that the world of politics necessitates compromise in order to make progress, until they recognize that the world of ideals is incompatible with Westminster as it currently stands, the Green Party risks remaining just that: an apolitical-liberal symbol.