A jubilant Green Party is celebrating its spectacular performance in topping the European elections in Brighton and Hove by focusing its efforts on the General Election and the forthcoming by-election in the Goldsmid ward.
‘We are confident we can repeat our performance in the General Election and the Goldsmid by-election,' said Cllr Bill Randall, Convenor of the Green Group of Councillors.
‘In the elections to the European Parliament, we finished 10 per cent ahead of the second placed Tories, and polled more than double the number of votes cast for Labour, who came in a poor third.
‘Our only regret is that Cllr Keith Taylor narrowly missed out on becoming the second Green MEP in the South East Region. Under a fairer voting system he would now be on his way to Brussels with our Green MEP Caroline Lucas.
‘The success is testament to the huge amount of work by our growing number of members and supporters across the city and by the performance and industry of our 12 Green city councillors and Caroline Lucas.
‘The days of Labour claiming that only they can keep out the Tories are over. Goldsmid and Brighton Pavilion will be two straight fights between the Tories and us. We believe we will win both, and we are already campaigning for victory.'
‘Indeed, on the basis of these election figures we must now fancy our general election chances in Brighton Kemptown and Hove more than ever.'
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
For more information, please call Cllr Bill Randall 07968 970 609 or Green Group Political Assistant Charlie Woodworth on: 01273 290452
(1) Number of votes cast by party in the European Elections in Brighton and Hove are:
Green 19727
Conservative 13891
Labour 9113
UKIP 7570
Lib Dem 6410
BNP 1796
(2) The percentage shares in Brighton and Hove are:
Green 31
Con 22
Lab 15
UKIP 12
Lib Dem 10
BNP 3
(3) The unfairness of the voting system can be measured by the number votes cast per MEP elected:
Plaid Cymru 126,702
SNP 160,504
Con 167,936
Lab 183,212
Lib Dem 189,147
UKIP 192,171
BNP 472,000 (approximately)
Green 651,873.