8 June 2009
Despite an increase in Green Party’s share of the vote from 5.6% in 2004 to 8.8%, the Greens have failed to win a seat in the East of England.
Green support rose right across the UK with the two existing Green MEPs, Caroline Lucas (South East) and Jean Lambert (London), each being elected for the third time, and with significantly increased vote share.
Over 140,000 voters backed the Greens in the East of England, following a campaign that the Eastern Region Green Party began two years ago. Support peaked strongly in the emerging Green strongholds with the Greens in Norwich coming first with about 25% of the vote, a result which was on the cards following the Greens coming first across the city in the County Council elections on Thursday.
The Green campaign covered every part of the region and was particularly focused on meeting people and finding out what they wanted to see from their MEPs. Green policies including Clean Politics and Green Jobs – with the aim of helping to make the East a European leader in renewable energy.
Lead candidate Rupert Read said: “We are very pleased with the big increase in the Green vote and we would like to thank the more than 140,000 people in the East of England who supported us. It wasn’t quite enough this time but it bodes well for our party across the region and especially in our developing strongholds. We now need to look forward to the next election, which could well be the Norwich North by-election, a city in which we topped the poll tonight.”
