Thank you!

Well, I had intended to write regular posts in the run-up to the elections, urging readers to vote Green and telling everyone how great Jean Lambert MEP is, but events somewhat overtook me as we entered the final stages of the campaign, and I was kept pretty busy with a steady stream of volunteers coming and helping to leaflet and campaign for us.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we did really well both across London and in Lewisham - our vote share (and number of votes) went up and Jean Lambert was re-elected as Green MEP for London.

Thank you to everyone who supported us, whether by voting Green, displaying a poster, helping to deliver leaflets to your street or simply reminding your friends to go and vote.

Across London we polled 10.9%, putting us in 4th place overall, although in a number of boroughs we polled significantly higher than that particularly in Lewisham (18%), Hackney (23%) Islington (20%), Lambeth (18%) and Haringey (17.4%). In Lewisham, Hackney and Islington we came second across the borough, beating the Tories and Lib Dems.

We only have official figures for across the borough, rather than by constituency, although the count was carried out loosely by constituency, but with the borough-wide postal votes thrown in. Our sampling at the count suggested that we polled significantly better in Lewisham Deptford (around 23%) than in the rest of the borough, and we were pretty much neck and neck with Labour, if not slightly ahead.

Of course, if all of London had voted like Lewisham, we would have also elected Ladywell ward councillor Ute Michel as a Green MEP! That was always a long shot and I would have been delighted if it had happened, but I admit I'm slightly relieved we don't have to launch straight into a local council by-election campaign now!

The independent Tamil candidate Jan Jananayagam polled well in Lewisham and in other boroughs with significant Tamil populations, such as Redbridge, making her, as the BBC reports, one of the most successful independent candidates ever.

Our vote across England and Wales went up 44% and we polled 1.2 million votes across the UK (not sure if that figure includes Northern Ireland or not though). Sadly, although our existing MEPs in London and the South-East (Jean Lambert and Caroline Lucas) were re-elected, we narrowly missed making gains in several regions, in particular the North West, Eastern and South West regions. In the North West we were just 5,000 votes short of getting Peter Cranie elected, while in both Eastern and South West we were only 1% off.

Now, for real electoral anoraks (like me!), Mancunian Green has done a little post-Euro election quiz!

Green TV (kind of)

I've been busy over the last few days delivering election leaflets, speaking to voters on the doorstep, plus a bit of gardening in the lovely weather, so haven't posted much on this blog. We've been getting a very encouraging response on the doorstep, with lots of people looking for alternatives to the big 3 parties in the wake of the expenses scandal.

In the absence of energy to write anything else today, I thought I'd just put a few links to some videos. First up are two from Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London about her work in the European Parliament and why she entered politics.





We've been showing well in opinion polls, at between 9-16% of the vote, depending on the poll, and a YouGov poll commissioned by the Green Party which showed 34% would consider voting Green which is encouraging. I'm told we need about 18% across London to get Ute, who is number two on our London list elected - something of a long shot and at the upper end of our expectations, but you never know, and a council by-election in the summer would certainly keep us on our toes! 10% would see Greens elected in many more regions across the UK.

Finally, this video from Greens in the North West region which explains quite nicely how the D'Hondt system used to count the votes for the European Elections works. Up in the North West the battle is on to get the progressive vote out and to stop the BNP leader Nick Griffin from becoming an MEP. The threat of them getting an MEP in London is somewhat less I think (I hope), but the explanation of how the votes are counted, and the importance of voting rather than staying at home is equally valid.

New European Greens Campaign Video

The two UK Green MEPs (Jean Lambert MEP for London and Caroline Lucas MEP for the South-East) are part of the European Greens and Free Alliance group within the European Parliament. The European Greens/EFA have released a new video narrated by Caroline:

Latest Edition of Lewisham Green News

Our latest edition of Green News has just arrived back from the printers. It focuses on our European Election campaign and the work of Green MEP for London Jean Lambert, but there are also articles about our work as local councillors. You can read it on our website, or look out for it coming through your door in the next few weeks.

We have a hard-working and enthusiastic team of volunteers who deliver our newsletters, but as a small party we always welcome more offers of help. If you would be willing to help deliver Green News to your street, please get in touch.

Re-Elect Jean Lambert MEP

Along with lots of my fellow Green bloggers, I want to give a plug today to the work of Green MEP for London, Jean Lambert.

Jean was elected as London's first Green Party MEP in 1999- and in 2004, she was re-elected with an increased share of the vote. On June 4th 2009, she faces re-election again - but due to EU enlargement, there are less European Parliament seats to go around in the UK, and more votes are needed every time to achieve re-election.

Second on the Green Party's London Region list for the European Parliament is our very own Ladywell ward councillor, Ute Michel. Getting two Green MEPs in London is a tall order, but I know Ute would do a brilliant job given the chance, as has Jean.

Pictured above: Ladywell ward councillor Ute Michel, with Shahrar Ali and Jean Lambert, the top 3 London Region Green candidates for the Euro Elections.

The work of the European Parliament can sometimes feel remote from people's everyday experience - but much of the UK's environmental, social and human rights legislation is now decided at an EU level, and the often unheralded work of our MEPs makes an enormous difference to the shape and impact of those laws. Jean has been tireless in working for social justice, environmental sustainability and peace - as recognised by the fact that she was named Justice and Human Rights MEP of the year in 2005.

Among other issues, Jean has focused on trade union rights, fairer treatment for asylum seekers, and the abolition of the UK opt-out to the Working Time Directive. She has been a prominent voice in proving that Green issues are not confined to the environment, but are concerned with building a more fair and just society.

It was Jean's 'Hothouses' report on climate change and greening London's housing stock, that first got me thinking seriously about ways of insulating my flat. The report highlights the importance of insulating London's existing housing (97% of London's housing was built before 1995), including the challenge of dealing with the 1.7m solid wall homes in London (over half of London's housing stock, including much of the Victorian housing in and around Brockley and Ladywell).

Her more recent 'Green Work' report looks in more detail at the need to create thousands of jobs in green industries such as insulation, and train up thousands of people to meet the 'green skills gap' in insulating homes, the renewables and recycling industry, plumbers, builders etc.

The BBC who have done a week-long blog and feature on the role of MEPs this week, in an attempt to demystify their work slightly, which includes an interview with Jean.

To continue her excellent work in Europe, Jean needs to get the message out to millions of Londoners, but she isn't funded by corporations, lobbyists or millionaires, so instead, her re-election campaign is relying on the efforts of ordinary Londoners. If you'd like to donate to her campaign, you can do so here via Paypal. If you'd like to volunteer in anyway, contact the campaign (or e-mail me for details of local events), and keep in touch with developments through Facebook.