South West Green Party

Greens in battle for third place

02 June 2009

A poll to be published the day before the European elections suggests the battle for third place will be between the Green Party, the LibDems and UKIP.  It shows the Greens are getting stronger day by day. They have risen four percentage points since the last poll published on Sunday.

In the new poll, conducted by ComRes (1), the Greens have overtaken the LibDems for the first time since 1989. The poll suggests the Greens may be about to match their historic 1989 Euro-election vote of 15%.

Ricky Knight The latest poll confirms that Ricky Knight will become the first Green MEP for the South West. Ricky said, “This is very encouraging news but it does mean that every Green vote counts. I urge people to cast a positive vote for the Green Party.”

Last Sunday's Telegraph/ICM poll showed the Greens on 11%, ahead of UKIP nationally for the first time in the campaign. The Sunday Telegraph suggested that "the resurgent Greens" might win eight seats. 

And in an earlier Green Party/YouGov poll, 34% of respondents said they would either definitely vote Green or consider voting Green.

Ricky Knight concluded, "This is not just a protest vote. The public are fed up with the gravy train and are looking to elect politicians that do not abuse the system.  For example, Green MEPs Caroline Lucas and Jean Lambert have refused to sign up to the second pension scheme, which allows MEPs to have an additional pension pot of up to £209,000 per five-year term, which they can begin drawing on when they reach 63."

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party leader and MEP for South East England, said: "Jean Lambert [the Green MEP for London] and I believe that the second pension scheme for MEPs is completely inappropriate and an abuse of public finances." Laith Khalaf, a pensions analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Taxpayers are charged billions of pounds a year for public sector pensions while their own retirement savings dwindle. They are likely to take a dim view of their taxes being used to fund luxury pensions for well-off politicians."

Ends:

Note to editors:

  1. Commissioned by the Green Party. Fieldwork carried out 29-31 May 2009. Sample size 1,005 GB adults, polled by telephone.
  2. The poll shows the following results:
    Conservative: 24%
    Labour: 22%
    UKIP: 17%
    Green: 15%
    Lib Dems: 14%
    BNP 2%
  3. Ashley Mote, the former UKIP MEP who was jailed for benefit fraud, has a pension worth £174,968 and will receive a transitional payment of £32,382.
  4. Tom Wise, the former UKIP MEP who faces trial for fraud and money-laundering related to his expenses, has a pension valued at £235,000 and will get a £32,382 transitional payment.
    Both men are in their seventies and can draw the final-salary pensions immediately.


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