deltic
Established Member
- Joined
- 8 Feb 2010
- Messages
- 3,233
Thought it might be of interest to add to this series of views on the future of our political parties.
The 1989 European Elections saw the Greens big break through gaining 14.5% of the national vote displacing the Social Liberal Democrats as the country's third party. However those elections were fought on first past the post so they failed to get any MEPs elected. The 1992 General Election saw them fielding over 250 candidates (a number not surpassed till 2010) but their vote collapsed to 0.5%.
Over the next 20 years they slowly increased their political presence, in 1999 thanks to proportional representation they gained their first MEPs and the real break through came in 2010 with their first MP. But despite expectations they would seats in places like Norwich and Bristol, Brighton remains their only Parliamentary seat.
With the almost complete collapse of the Liberal Democrat vote as a result of the 2010 Coalition government I expected them to make steady progress and possibly replace the Lib Dems as a major political force. However, while they achieved their highest share of the vote at the 2015 General Election it was still under 4% and has declined since then. The 2019 European Elections saw them at 12% of the vote and gain 7 MEPs but obviously they have all gone now. They have never made any impression at a parliamentary by-election - their best performance was back in 2009 when they won 10% of the vote in Norwich North.
On a more positive note they have been making slow but steady progress in relation to council seats and now hold over 500, compared to 2,500 for Lib Dems, 6,000 Labour and nearly 7,000 Conservative - the SNP have less than 500. They are also the coalition leader in 2 councils that have no overall control.
So why have the Greens failed to break through and replace the Lib Dems as the party of the protest vote following 1989 and 2010 and how much more progress can they make at a local government level?
The 1989 European Elections saw the Greens big break through gaining 14.5% of the national vote displacing the Social Liberal Democrats as the country's third party. However those elections were fought on first past the post so they failed to get any MEPs elected. The 1992 General Election saw them fielding over 250 candidates (a number not surpassed till 2010) but their vote collapsed to 0.5%.
Over the next 20 years they slowly increased their political presence, in 1999 thanks to proportional representation they gained their first MEPs and the real break through came in 2010 with their first MP. But despite expectations they would seats in places like Norwich and Bristol, Brighton remains their only Parliamentary seat.
With the almost complete collapse of the Liberal Democrat vote as a result of the 2010 Coalition government I expected them to make steady progress and possibly replace the Lib Dems as a major political force. However, while they achieved their highest share of the vote at the 2015 General Election it was still under 4% and has declined since then. The 2019 European Elections saw them at 12% of the vote and gain 7 MEPs but obviously they have all gone now. They have never made any impression at a parliamentary by-election - their best performance was back in 2009 when they won 10% of the vote in Norwich North.
On a more positive note they have been making slow but steady progress in relation to council seats and now hold over 500, compared to 2,500 for Lib Dems, 6,000 Labour and nearly 7,000 Conservative - the SNP have less than 500. They are also the coalition leader in 2 councils that have no overall control.
So why have the Greens failed to break through and replace the Lib Dems as the party of the protest vote following 1989 and 2010 and how much more progress can they make at a local government level?