Greens on 15% overtake Liberal Democrats

2 June 2009

A poll to be published the day before the European elections suggests the battle for third place will be between the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats and UKIP.

In the new poll, conducted by ComRes (1), the Greens have overtaken the Lib Dems for the first time since 1989. The poll suggests the Greens may be about to match their historic 1989 Euro-election vote of 15%.

The poll shows support for the different parties as follows:

Conservative: 24%

Labour: 22%

UKIP: 17%

Green: 15%

Lib Dems: 14%

BNP 2%

If the poll proves accurate, the Greens will probably win seats in the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, East Midlands, South West and Eastern regions plus Scotland, as well as holding existing seats in London and the South East. The Greens may even scoop up a second seat in the South East, with Brighton councillor Keith Taylor joining party leader Caroline Lucas, who was first elected in 1999.

Last Sunday's Telegraph/ICM poll showed the Greens on 11%, ahead of UKIP nationally for the first time in the campaign. The Sunday Telegraph suggested that "the resurgent Greens" might win eight seats.

And in an earlier Green Party/YouGov poll, 34% of respondents said they would either definitely vote Green or consider voting Green if they knew more about the party.

Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, said: "It's not all protest vote. I think our manifesto for a million jobs, aimed at tackling the recession and the climate crisis at the same time, has probably struck a chord with a lot of people."

"In the last few days of the campaign we need to work hard to mobilise the Green vote, because in a proportional election every vote counts. A 15% Green vote would mean a half-dozen or more extra Green MEPs to go and fight for those million jobs in the Green New Deal."

--

Note:

1. Commissioned by the Green Party. Fieldwork carried out 29-31 May 2009. Sample size 1,005 GB adults, polled by telephone.

 

Back to main news page