The Green Party of England and Wales has its roots in the PEOPLE Party started in Coventry in 1972/3 by four professional friends (Michael Benfield, Freda Sanders, Tony Whittaker and Lesley Whittaker). It then changed its name to the more descriptive Ecology Party in 1975, and to the Green Party ten years later. In the 1990s, the Scottish and Northern Ireland wings of the Green Party in the United Kingdom decided to separate amicably from the party in England and Wales, to form the Scottish Green Party and the Green Party in Northern Ireland. The Wales Green Party became an autonomous regional party and remained within the new Green Party of England and Wales.