THE Green Party is polling at 8% ahead of the General Election in Ipsos MORI’s monthly political monitor for the London Evening Standard (1).
The polling has the Greens neck-and-neck with the Liberal Democrats (also on 8%) for the fourth spot. The Green Party outperformed the Liberal Democrats, Coalition partners, at the May 22 European Elections in terms of both MEPs returned and total vote (2).
Responding to the latest upbeat General Election polling, Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, said:
“The fact that the Green Party are consistently polling at or above the 7% mark ahead of the General Election goes to show that our people over profits message is really hitting home.
“It is the our policies such as making the minimum wage a living wage, renationalising our railways and having a publicly owned and run NHS which are both encouraging people to join as members and vote Green at the polling booth.
“While the other parties concentrate their efforts on the image they’d like to portray, Greens are rolling up their sleeves and fighting for what we and our members believe in.
“From opposing the proposed EU-US free trade deal, which threatens our labour, health environmental standards and democratic rights, to drawing attention to the new snoopers' charter that was rushed through parliament this week, the Green Party is prepared to take principled stands and an increasing number of voters recognise and value this.
“More and more people are recognising that only the Greens offer the real change for the common good that British politics and British society desperately needs."
Green Party national membership has grown by 23% in the first five months of this year (3).
The Greens elected an additional MEP at the May 22 European Elections and now have treble the number of the Liberal Democrats. The Green Party also were clearly ahead of the Liberal Democrats in the total vote – 1.2million voted for a Green MEP on May 22 compared to the Liberal Democrats’ 1.09million. The Greens gained 23 additional councillors at the Local Elections and are now the official opposition in Liverpool, Norwich, Solihull and the London boroughs of Lewisham and Islington (4).
1) http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/8897
Ipsos MORI interviewed a representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone between the 12th and 15th July 2014.