The Next National Election

The focus of the Green Party, in the next national election, will be to elect our first MP.

Here are five places in the country where it could happen.

- Brighton Pavillion -- Caroline Lucas -- Caroline Lucas is one of Britain's two Green MEPs. The Green Party received 22% of the vote in the 2005 election in this seat. The city council wards that make up Brighton Pavillion voted 30% for the Greens in the 2007 elections. So, if they vote the same way in the next election ...

- Norwich South -- Adrian Ramsey -- Ramsey has been a city councillor since 2003. He was re-elected in Nelson ward in 2007, receiving 62% of the vote. Similar to Brighton, if people vote the same way as in the 2007 city elections, the Greens will defeat Charles Clarke, the former Home Secretary.

- Lewisham Deptford -- Darren Johnson -- Johnson was elected to the London Assembly in May 2000, was re-elected in 2004, and was the first Green to take a seat on Lewisham Council in May 2002. There are now six Green councillors in Lewisham Deptford. The Greens came a clear second to Labour in last year’s council elections, with the Liberal Democrats managing only two councillors, and the Tories winning no seats.

- Lancaster & Fleetwood -- Gina Dowding -- Dowding, until standing down in 2007, had been a councillor for 8 years in Lancaster, six of those in the council cabinet. The Greens hold 12 district council seats in the constituency, the same number as Labour, and one more than the Tories. After Dowding blew the whistle in 2002 on Lancaster City Council’s secret decision to grant rate relief to Heysham nuclear power station, she was re-elected with nearly 60% of the vote.

- Oxford East -- Peter Tatchell -- I'm tempted to have a drumroll and say, "and now, a man who needs no introduction." Tatchell's use of direct action to promote gay liberation and social justice is one of the most impressive in Britain. Oxford has 8 Green city councillors, and Oxford East has wards like St Mary's where Greens already receive 66 per cent of the vote.