The writing’s on the wall..

2:17 pm May 9, 2005

May 9, 2005 - Sorry not to have posted before, I’ve been recovering!

The first thing I have to do is to say an immense THANK YOU to everyone who voted Green, and to all the people who’ve helped achieve the best ever result in the whole country, ever!

Last Thursday 9,530 people in Brighton Pavilion secured 22% of the vote; once again ensuring Brighton is by far and away the greenest city in the UK. We were pipped at the post by the Tories from taking second place by only 800 votes and were only 6000 votes behind the winning Labour vote. The full results were;

Labour 15,427 (35% with a swing of -13.22%) Tory 10,397 (23.94% with a swing of -1.12%) GREEN 9,530 (21.94% WITH A SWING OF +12.59%) LibDem 7,171 (16.51% with a swing of +3.38%)

Getting the highest Green vote ever was very much a group thing!

OK, I’m disappointed not to be buying my season ticket up to Victoria (who wouldn’t be?) but TWENTY TWO PERCENT in a General? It’s absolutely fantastic !! It bodes so well for the next Local Elections in 2007, and with over one in five voters supporting us there’s a very strong base to work from in the next General Election in four or five years time.

Looking at the way the votes have gone over the last two elections we can see votes slipping through Labour’s fingers, in 2001 their majority was 9,643 (23.68%) and now that’s slipped to 5,030 (11.58%) Next time we can win it, for sure - the writing’s on the wall!

I think the result forcefully demonstrated that Brightonians are fed up with the Westminster policies that are doled out - people want politicians to recognise the issues that are really important: climate change, public services, trust and accountability. Now that David Lepper has got back into Parliament again he’s got to prove he’s representing the people who elected him - no more voting in favour of tuition fees or foundation hospitals, fluoridation or control orders. We’ll be watching him.

So, back to the world of dreams, as of today, it’s back to work at being a city councillor, and it’s head down planning for the next election. I know that the 2007 Locals will be the next important staging post towards Brighton & Hove becoming the first Green Council in the UK.

And finally thanks to everyone for their kind messages of support. If anyone wants to find out more about joining us or even standing for election, please get in touch.

Brighton's a special place, taht's why we're on the verge of making history.

11:16 am May 4, 2005

May 4, 2005 - This will be the last blog entry before tomorrow’s big vote. The pace of campaigning has kept up, not even slowing down for the Bank Holiday, although we did take the opportunity of the sunshine and took the Green message (complete with our windmills) to the beach on Monday.

Went along to a lively Hustings organised by Sussex Action for Peace at the Friends Centre, followed by some more street campaigning aided by Irish Green MP - John Gormley TD, a former Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Tony Blair paid a surprise visit to the Pavilion Gardens café on Tuesday to meet the city’s Green candidates, Simon Williams (Kemp Town) Anthea Ballam (Hove) and me. As you can see he gave us the cold shoulder!

I couldn't help noticing his perspiration problem....

Appeared on Meridian TV’s “On the Record” on Sunday to discuss the major election issues, and then took our Green message down to the beach on Monday, stopping off for an ice cream and chats with passers-by. In the last 24 hours I’ve appeared on Newsnight (talking about sustainable development, focussing on New Labour’s missed opportunities in Hastings), Today, World at One and various news broadcasts.

Despite all that, there are still people who haven’t made up their mind which way to vote! So the onus in the last hours of the campaign is to make a final push to let people know that in Brighton Pavilion they have the best chance in the whole country of making history by making the first Green MP.

In defending his seat Labour loyalist David Lepper has sent a panicky last minute leaflet to voters saying the Greens can’t win, that a vote for anybody but Labour will open Downing Street’s door to the Tories. He calls himself a “green Labour MP”. Now David’s a nice chap, he’s a good constituency MP, but I can’t see he’s anywhere near identifying with our core messages. I wish he were.

For instance he’s voted in favour of Tuition Fees, Foundation Hospitals, increasing industrial carbon emissions, fluoridation, ID cards, and detention without trial plus loads more that I don’t think the majority of people in this constituency really want to see.

And as far as the New Labour project is concerned I’m concerned to read that Blair has already apparently decided that we need to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system with an updated version. As if that were not bad enough it’s also widely expected a new nuclear power station programme will be announced early in the new parliament.

I believe the need for Green voices at Westminster is urgent, as I do not believe if he’s re-elected David Lepper will be saying the things Brighton people want to be hearing. We have a fantastic opportunity to make Brighton famous for being a city committed to peace, to social justice and to finding sustainable solutions for modern living that enhance the lives of future generations rather than destroy the environment we leave them.

One more or one fewer Labour MP in Brighton will not make the slightest difference. The country’s first Green MP will speak for the conscience of Brighton and help make a world of difference.

Please, the stakes have never been so high; YOU can make all the difference. As they say, don’t just hope for a better future - vote for one!

Finally a huge thank you to everyone who has sent messages and donations and responded to my calls for help

And absolutely the last word, I've just heard that the public ARE to be admitted to the count at Hove Town Hall tomorrow night. A decision had been taken not to have any public at all at the count, but following our calls to reverse that decision agreement has been reached for 150 to be admitted. Doors open 11pm, strictly first come first served. My advice would be if you're determined get there early and queue.

The General Election diet plan

8:09 am April 29, 2005

April 29, 2005 - I’m losing weight! Hardly surprising, as my days seem to be getting longer whilst the opposite seems to be true of mealtimes! The campaign is picking up pace, and we are reaching more people than ever before. I haven’t seen it yet, but today’s Independent carries a double page spread about the Brighton Pavilion campaign, and tries to uncover why the country’s green revolution is starting here.

There’s a fantastic spirit abroad, with volunteers appearing from all over to help us. That’s just as well, as there’s a mountain of work to do as we go into the last weekend of the campaign. So if anyone has a little time this weekend please come to Brighton and help us as we try to make history by getting the country’s first Green MP. Our own research is showing that we can do it!

You don't have to be a member to help, just give our office a call (01273 766670), or if you can't get to Brighton yourself maybe you'd like to make a donation to help the campaign. Go to my home page and hit the "donate" button

My own last week has seen me share platforms on hustings all over the city, for Private Sector Housing Forum, National Union of Teachers, Older Peoples Forum, Varndean College, and University of Sussex Students Union. I’ve also had to “speed canvass”, ridden an electric scooter and spoken at a conference with David Mellor. Media wise, there’s been lots of local and national radio and press and TV, ranging from Today and Election Special on R4 to BBC2's Politics Show.

Caroline Lucas spreads the word...

Caroline Lucas, Green MEP came to campaign with us on Saturday. She may have knocked on your door.

From doorstep conversations, it’s very clear that Iraq is still the single largest reason that people won’t be voting Labour. The release of the Attorney General’s advice to Government highlights that Blair was not justified in being so wholeheartedly certain about the justice of invasion when he made the case for war in the Houses of Commons. He took the country to war on the lie that there were WMD with a certainty that action was legal.

Whether he was lying is up to people to decide - he will doubtless argue that he believed he was doing the right thing. But when the stakes are so high many of us will say that’s simply not enough. And he doesn’t seem to have learned a single lesson from Iraq. He has not been held to account, and from his actions since Iraq I can see no reason for him to refuse George Bush’s next request for military help, in Iran or Syria perhaps.

There have been some scary news stories about climate change threatening food supplies, and also one where an analyst speaks of Peak Oil (the point at which oil extraction reaches it maximum, and then reduces whilst demand continues to increase). The report predicted that oil could reach $100 barrel within three years. We’ve seen the effects that petrol pump price rises of a few pence have had - a doubling of the price of crude oil would cause financial and social chaos.

These two stories illustrate the ‘head in the sand’ approach of Westminster politics which is so inexorably wedded to corporate partnerships and economic liberalisation, to the growth of consumption with progress measured in simple economic terms only. We need huge investment in renewable energies to combat carbon emissions and take us away from reliance on fossil fuels, but instead we see all three Westminster parties Holy Grail as expansion at all costs, irrespective of the environmental affect and resource use.

Now, more than ever there need to be strong Green voices at Westminster to make the arguments of sustainability, justice and peace, and speak for the generations to come. If we are not there, those arguments won’t be made and that means that New Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems can pretend the arguments don’t exist.

One final postcript, the 42 storey Beetham Tower planning application for the Brighton Station site was unanimously thrown out by the Planning Committee after a stirring words from fellow Green Councillor Simon Williams, who is also our candidate for Brighton Kemp Town.