There is some good news
Yes, London may have a mayor Boris, which is a horrifying thought, but there is a little good news that you might not have heard; the two Greens on the London Assembly, Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson, held their seats, with an identical percentage of the vote to last time, which means 43,000 more people voted Green on the Assembly list. It was the Lib Dem vote that got caught in the two-party crunch, and they lost two seats on the Assembly, their vote falling to 11.22% (from 18.09%).
I’m pleased with the Camden vote: in the Camden and Barnet consitituency Miranda Dunn took 9.50% of the vote, only 3% behind the Liberal Democrats (which since Barnet isn’t exactly our natural constituency means, I’d hazard a guess, that we out-polled them in Camden).
And Sian Berry got nearly 4% of the mayoral first preferences, roughly half Paddick’s, and will I’m sure have done very well on second preferences – unfortunately people are still getting to grips with the voting system. Eventually I’m sure a lot more will realise they can vote for the first choice with their heart, and use their second vote to choose between the final two.
On one level it is horrifying that the BNP got an Assembly seat, but I’m not sure that it won’t be helpful as a pressure valve. and when they are exposed to the light many people who voted for them in anger and frustration will see them more clearly.
Update: over on The Daily Maybe, Jim has a full listing and analysis.



And as Jim pointed out us losing votes to smaller parties could have easily lead to a second BNP seat.
I also think the London campaign has given us a great platform that we need to capitalise on in the year until the next set of elections.
Comment by Chris — May 3, 2008 @ 9:41 am
[...] An alternative, green viewpoint from philobilblon [...]
Pingback by Mayoral reactions : Election shocker - People care! « Cased — May 3, 2008 @ 11:21 am
Yeah, but what do these two Green assembly members actually do!
They have a zero public face.
I think that a typical Green vote is as radical as a Lib Dem vote, maybe even less so.
Comment by Andy Walpole — May 4, 2008 @ 5:46 pm
I’d reckon that Jenny and Darren are better known than any other Assembly members. And what they have delivered over the past four years includes a lot of money for cycling and walking, an environmental homes service, and a wide range of traffic reduction measures. And the policies for this election included a London miniumum wage of £7.20, free insulation for every house that needs it, a 20mph speed limit and cuts to bus and off-peak tube fares. Okay – not a total radical transformation – but the London mayor and assembly have limited powers and this is radical within that framework. A long, long way from the Tory-friendly LibDems.
Comment by Natalie Bennett — May 4, 2008 @ 10:47 pm
Mayor BORIS? the mind boggles. Or, maybe, the bog mindles.
And as for the BNP having a seat, it may well work out that having one in full view may be a good thing. Here, the election a few years ago of a gaggle of rabidly religious (and, in a couple of cases, aggressively procreative) Republicans to the state legislature led to many “moderate” right-wingers supporting more grown-up candidates after a couple of election cycles. Here’s hoping….
Comment by david ware — May 6, 2008 @ 3:32 am
I agree wit you David. Barnbrook is far from being the sharpest knife in the drawer and he’s bound to rival Boris when it comes to gaffs.
Comment by a very public sociologist — May 11, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
I agree with you about the BNP being a ’safety valve’. We don’t want them, but we need them there to be seen for what they are. And I can hear the news of the LibDem squeeze with equanimity, not to mention glee!
On another point, I have heard it suggested that while our Mayoral candidate Sian Berry may have been quite successful, the campaign missed a key trick by being focused on her rather than on emphasising the Assembly seats we might have won. There clearly was justified criticism on the point , but I don’t know exactly who was responsible.
What was your impression?
Comment by John Norris — May 18, 2008 @ 3:04 pm
metropolitan life ins…
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