Thank you Wandsworth for your brave Green votes for the environment and for social justice. In spite of the spectre of tactical voting in our broken First Past the Post electoral system Greens have done encouragingly well in our borough with Glyn Goodwin, our Green candidate for Tooting garnering a record breaking 2,314 votes while Lois Davis secured 1,529 in Battersea and Fergal McEntee 1,133 in Putney.
Also in South London, Dulwich and West Norwood our co-leader Jonathan Bartley gained second place receiving 16% of the vote, up from 2% previously, and we saved our deposits in Camberwell and Peckham, Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Lewisham Deptford laying strong foundations to win more elected Greens.
Across England and Wales we have increased our vote share by 60%, an equivalent of 17 or 18 MPs under a fair voting system. We have received more media attention than ever before pushing the Climate Emergency up the agenda and leading the debate on the need for a Green New Deal, which we originated in 2008.
Our brilliant Caroline Lucas will return to Parliament to put forward her Green New Deal Bill, a Future Generations Bill and a Sustainable Economy Bill. In addition, Caroline will continue to campaign for the closest possible relationship with the EU, for urgent climate action and for the protection of our natural world, workers’ rights, human rights – and our democracy.
Meanwhile, in London, we’ll be campaigning to make our Co-leader Sian Berry the new Mayor of London and bring more Green assembly members to City Hall. Come join us to beat our broken political system and bring the movement for Climate Justice and Social Justice to the frontline in your community.