Think again and again and again

The good news: we did better, increasing votes by almost a half. Places like Hackney & other parts of London are becoming greener. The Lib Dems are on the run.
The bad news: we didn’t make the breakthrough when all eyes were on us.
We almost did though. An MEP seat in the Northwest and the East would have made the Green Party the standard bearer for a genuine Left of Centre force, being anti-establishment but with solutions to housing, jobs and climate change.

Before we beat up ourselves too much, and get embroiled in tons of statistics………. let’s find what we need from the clutter.

The ‘Think Again’ was the highlight of the campaign. And there lies the problem and the solution.
The problem is that some strategists have beeen so desperate to gain media exposure that they almost ran to the TV studio or the phone to answer questions on the one subject the media wants us to remain: the environment.
Add the inclinations of some members who would like nothing better than to preach to the rest of the population about patio heaters and you see why a sceptical public liked us, but not enough to go the polling centre and stick an ‘X’ against our name.
The Good News is that the message of ‘Think Again’ worked – have we thanked the Media team?
It did not work enough to double our MEPs because you cannot change the direction of an electoral world in a few weeks.Well, you can…. if you are a Right wing party and the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail plus Sky publicise you…….

But for the Greens, the solution is clear….

…..Keep on banging on about the economy, council housing, Right to Rent, a million jobs, and democratic public control over railways, NHS, education (no academies & no student loans)….. and nationalise the banks to change their role and support a shift to a job-intensive/low carbon economy…

If we keep to this theme all over, in all regions and not get sidetracked, the electorate will shift to us.

Farid Bakht