European Elections - London and Ireland

I attended the count last night at City Hall as a candidate and several things stand out for me. Firstly, I am immensely pleased that Jean Lambert has been returned to represent London again in the European Parliament and that she has gone from 8th out of 9 seats to 5th out out of 8 seats. The results indicated a large increase in votes for the Greens and particularly pleased that our vote share in Lambeth showed us in fourth place, just behind the Lib Dems.

I am also hugely relieved that London has remained free of the plague of the BNP - unlike some other regions of the country. The biggest disappointment of the night was the news that Fascists have taken seats in Yorkshire and the North West. I am very critical here of the role of No2EU which bummed (as expected) but which also took crucial left votes away in the North West and allowed Griffin in. Green Left has been critical of this group and issued a statement some time ago about their position. Their slogan was xenophobic, their selection system (which mocked their slogan of 'Yes to Democracy' )was anything but democratic - and I hope now that those involved will have a long hard think about the role they have played in this election.

It was interesting that in the acceptance speeches only the Lib Dem MEP (Sarah Ludford) and Jean Lambert, for the Greens, referred to what had happened about the BNP and addressed the issue of equalities etc. The Labour MEP, Claude Moraes, did not issue a word. He himself is an ethnic minority MEP but remained stumm on the issue of Fascism and racism! This from the party which has supposedly been leading the fight against the BNP but whose actions on welfare reform, privatisation etc, have been the biggest factors in increasing their support.

It was also satisfying that the Green vote in London was larger than that of UKIP. Gerard Batten's speech was off the wall and it was interesting that none of his party were in the chamber, so that it was greeted with silence. Perhaps it tells us something about the mood in the UKIP camp. This was the man who said, at a hustings I attended in Enfield, that there was no such thing as global warming!

The London results were:

Seats:Tory 3Labour 2Lib Dem Green UKIP

Votes:
Conservative
479,037
27.4(+0.6)
3

Labour
372,590
21.3(-3.5)
2

Liberal Democrats
240,156
13.7(-1.6)
1

Green Party
190,589
10.9(+2.5)
1

UK Independence Party
188,440
10.8(-1.6)
1

British National Party
86,420
4.9(+0.9)
0

Christian Party-Christian Peoples Alliance
51,336
2.9(+2.9)
0

Independent - Jan Jananayagam
50,014
2.9(+2.9)
0

English Democrat
24,477
1.4(+0.6)
0

No2EU
17,758
1.0(+1.0)
0

Socialist Labour Party
15,306
0.9(+0.9)
0

Libertas
8,444
0.5(+0.5)
0

Jury Team
7,284
0.4(+0.4)
0

Independent - Steven Cheung
4,918
0.3(+0.3)
0

Socialist Party of Great Britain
4,050
0.2(+0.2)
0

Yes 2 Europe
3,384
0.2(+0.2)
0

Independent - Sohale Rahman
3,248
0.2(+0.2)
0

Independent - Gene Alcantara
1,972
0.1(+0.1)
0

Independent - Haroon Saad
1,603
0.1(+0.1)
0

The results from the Irish Republic show that the Irish Greens have been devastated, losing all their council seats in Dublin and winning no seats in the European Parliament. I have always believed that it was a massive historical mistake to enter the coalition government with the corrupt and politically (and now also economically) bankrupt Fianna Fail party and I told the Irish Greens this on many occasions when I met them. The turn against the government there because of the economy, but also because of decisions taken around other issues, such as the appalling construction of the motorway through the world heritage site of Tara, which the Irish Green Environment Minister allowed, has come back to plague them. Coming from Dublin, I was aware of the great anger and disillusionment in the country towards the present government and towards the Greens for being the tail that did not wag the dog, but continued to do Fianna Fail's bidding. As a result of this many radical Greens, including Patricia Mc Kenna, for whom I have great respect, left the party. I sincerely hope that there is now a revolt within the party by grassroots members.

I have always argued and will continue to argue that Greens are a radical force or they are nothing and entering rightwing coalitions, whether nationally or locally, should never be an option. The Greens must be a progressive force on the left of European politics opposing Fascism and racism, which are now stalking the continent once again. And they must remain true to their founding principles and act as a beacon of hope for the non-sectarian Left.