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@TheBrick(Tommy)
If you vote for a minority party your plan is not get them in. You know it will not happen. Some small representation may be possible as has happened in the L.A with the green party which is all good.
Elections are won and lost over the floating voter. By the larger political system most people who vote for minority parties such as the Greens are regarded as floating voters. People know when they vote the that the minority party they vote for will not win so they do not care about many of that parties minor polices but the overall ethos of the minority party is one that they feel is not being taken seriously enough by the main stream. For the BNP it's immigration and for the greens it's mainly green issues / housing problem (IMO). I think nearly 8% went green at the L.A elections? Now lets say a quarter of these people are floating voters. If during the next term and at the next election one of the main stream parties can convince these floating voters that they are taking green issues seriously enough this is the type of swing that can swing an election. Do this on a few policy areas (such as immigration for the BNP) and you can secure a win / larger majority. This is why it is important to vote for minority parties.
The power of this method can be seen when looking back to the 70's and the demise of the NF. One of the key points which is said to play a downfall in their support was a speech by Marget Thatcher which spoke to the concerns of many of the NF supporters. This bought many of the NF supporters over to the conservative party and back into main stream politics. This is an example of a main stream party reaching out to the floating voters that went for a minority party. This may be an example of the a part of politics we do no wish to consider however the theory works just the same for areas of policy we, our selfs would like main stream politics to consider.