Philobiblon

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.

It has been buried in the news in the Conservatives surge in the British local elections, but there has been a change in Norwich, where the Green Party, for the first time has become the official opposition by taking three seats from the Lib Dems. (They missed out on this status last year by one vote.)

The city council tally is now Labour 15, Greens 13, Lib Dems 6, Conservatives 5.

…from the Independent:

Sian Berry, for the Greens, on the other hand, has been an articulate, imaginative and effective advocate for her cause. With her programme for a greener London, with more cycle-lanes, cheaper public transport, more small shops and eco-friendly housing, she has come across as a forward-looking politician, committed to a better quality of London life. We hope she can continue to find a voice in the national debate.

So consonant are her priorities with those of this paper that, if we could vote for mayor today, we would place our first-preference cross against her name. This would underscore the importance of the environment to both London and to the rest of the nation. Then, and with rather heavy heart, it would be illogical to do anything other than make Ken Livingstone our second choice.

And do vote Green on the peach ballot paper, the London-wide Assembly list – that could put Sian into the Assembly.