* Under a proportional system, London could have woken up this morning to 3 or 4 Green Members of Parliament
* Greens achieve record result in capital, tripling their 2010 vote share
Greens are today celebrating a "bitter-sweet" result in the capital, after the first-past-the-post system failed to deliver voters a Green MP for London despite a tripling of the Green vote share [1}.
Green Party Leader, Natalie Bennett, polled third in Holborn and St. Pancras, representing a vote share increase of 10%
The Greens saw large gains in their vote share in Holborn and St. Pancras, where Green Party leader Natalie Bennett polled in third place with a 10% swing to her party. Large vote share increases were also seen in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, where candidate Heather Finlay also saw a 10% swing take the Greens to third place.
Deputy Leader Amelia Womack's Camberwell and Peckham constituency also voted the Greens into third place, as did voters in a further 12 constituencies. {2] Greens also saved a record 22 deposits across the capital, with their vote share increasing in all of London's 73 constituencies.
Despite strong showings bringing cause for celebration in the Green camp, under a proportional system the party could have expected to secure 3 or 4 seats in London. The party has joined with other campaigns including the Electoral Reform Society and 38 Degrees in demanding that reforming the electoral system and introducing a more proportional system [3] be an immediate priority for the next government.
Tom Chance, Co-Chair of the London Green Party and their candidate in the election for Lewisham West and Penge said:
In an election votes should mean seats. But, because of the way our outdated electoral system works, millions of people across the country are disenfranchised - they’ve voted Green in their droves and yet have only one MP representing their views in parliament. Not only is this grossly unfair. It also serves to entrench the business-as-usual politics of the "traditional" parties.Across the country the Green Party polled its highest ever result in a general election securing 3.8% of the public's vote. Due to our current current electoral system Greens were still only able to elect one MP – the historic reelection of Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion - rather than the 24 it would have secured under a more proportional system.
That’s why the Greens, along with other parties and campaigns, are calling for a complete overhaul of our unjust electoral system. We want to see a more proportional system introduced, as is used across Europe and in our own London Assembly elections, to ensure that the next time voters go to the polls, parliament reflects the will of the people instead of robbing them of their democratic rights.
Notes
1. 4.8%, up from 1.6% in 2010. Results can be found here: http://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/general-election-results-2015
2. Hackney South and Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Bow, Islington North, Tottenham, Lewisham West and Penge, Vauxhall, Leyton and Wanstead, Lewisham Deptford, Walthamstow, Ealing Southall and Tooting.
3. The Green Party supports the introduction of the Additional Member System, a version of proportional representation currently used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, and the London Assembly, or the Single Transferable Vote System favoured by the Electoral Reform Society: http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/pa.html http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/single-transferable-voteV
A challenge within 'first past the post' electoral system -- especially for parties that do not have the media support of Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and UKIP -- is attaining the 5% vote share required for candidates to retain their electoral deposit. Thus in the Brent Central and Brent North constituencies as well as Hampstead & Kilburn, the Green Party candidates lost their deposits.
ReplyDeleteThat will require additional fundraising.
I would like to see London Federation of Green Parties giving greater prominence to investing in promoting the Green Party profile in such constituencies, so as to increase the spread of the Green Party voteshare in such Proportional Representation elections as for some Assembly Members in the Greater London Authority elections and elections to the European Parlaiment.
Meanwhile, I am glad that my vote for Party Leader Natalie Bennett in Holborn & St Pancras contributed to her 12.8% share of the vote. The Holborn & St Pancras constituency has consistently been blessed with at least one Green Party councillor since 2006 council elections and when Natalie stood as parliamentary candidate in the 2010 General Election, the one Green Party councillor not standing down had such a great reputation that she received more votes than any other candidate in Highgate Ward. Cllr Maya De Souza (Green Party) even got more votes for the one council ward than Natalie got for the whole parliamentary constituency at a time of electoral wipe out for Green Party councillors as London council elections were hit by fallout from the 'three wise men' debate that brought hoardes to polling stations who would have otherwise stayed at home.