A HUGE thankyou to everyone who voted Green.

Here in North Lancashire our results were:

Lancaster & Wyre:5236 votes – 12.2%
Morecambe & Lunesdale: 2089 votes – 4.3%

This was not the results we had hoped for. As always our vote was squeezed by tactical voting under the unfair first-past-the-post voting system. Even so, we tripled our vote share in Lancaster & Wyre (compared to 2019), and laid a good foundation to build on next time, and in both Constituencies the vote share was higher than 2015, our previous best.

Meanwhile, across the country the Green Party had its best ever General Election result, winning over 1.8 million votes. 

Greens polled 7.2% of the votes overall – a record high for us!

Through a very targeting campaign aiming at 4 target seats, we also won 4 new MPs who will be pushing Keir Starmer’s Labour Government to be bolder, better, and greener. Sian Berry in Brighton & Hove, Ellie Chowns in North Herefordshire, Adrian Ramsay in Waveney Valley, Carla Denyer in Bristol Central. 

Meanwhile, the Greens came second in at least 40 other constituencies.

Jack Lenox, our Candidate for Lancaster & Wyre said:

“Well, that wasn’t the result we were hoping for, or thought we were heading for. It’s easy to lose sight of how big an achievement our result is. And I couldn’t be happier with our incredible victories in Bristol, Herefordshire, Suffolk, Brighton, and of course our local by-election in the University ward.

I’m so grateful to everyone who has helped with our campaign, and to everyone who had the courage to vote Green. Of course, congratulations are due to Cat Smith and Labour on their victory in Lancaster and Wyre, and across the country.

With love and peace, we’ll be back. “

Gina Dowding, our Candidate for Morecambe & Lunesdale said

“To EVERYONE in Morecambe and Lunesdale a huge THANK YOU to those who sent me an email in the last few weeks – on issues ranging from more support needed for those living with chronic illnesses.. to those desperate for a better welfare system.. or wanting to give a voice for animal welfare and the future health of our fragile planet. And many more.

I sent replies to over 200 emails and apologies if you didn’t get one – I just ran out of time. I feel your frustration with how things are, and appreciate your hopes for the future.

Congratulations to Lizzi Collinge on winning in Morecambe and Lunesdale.”

A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO … voted Green, delivered leaflets, knocked on doors, displayed posters or signboards, did some printing, stuffed envelopes, donated funds, made food or gave lifts to volunteers, liked and shared our posts on social media, endorsed our candidates, or helped on polling day!

A lot of Green Party members and volunteers have worked incredibly hard over the past few weeks, successfully scaling up our leafletting and canvassing to include Skerton, Scale Hall and several Wyre wards in addition to the many Lancaster wards where we were already very active. Just a few of our wonderful volunteers are pictured here, from polling day:

Special thanks also to the coordinating team:

Jack Lenox and Gina Dowding for being such inspirational and hard-working candidates, and dealing with an avalanche of emails and media requests.

Izzy Metcalf-Riener, our new Campaign Organiser, who had only been in post for a couple of weeks before the General Election was called, and rose to the challenge admirably! Among other things she led on volunteer coordination and internal communications, managing all our electoral data, and designing some of our election literature.

Hamish Mills, who coordinated our polling day operation.

Ceri Turner who led our external communications via social media and the NLGP website.

Caroline Montague who led on outreach to Wyre members and voters.

Emily Heath who coordinated the overall strategy, budget and team meetings and devised most of the leafletting rounds for new wards.

Anne Chapman our ever-reliable Election Agent, for getting all our legal paperwork submitted on time.

Kathryn Bancroft, Steve Hoyland, Endar Kaur, Ceri Mumford, Hamish Mills, Mollie Foxall, Sam Riches and Paul Stubbins for coordinating leafletting, and James Sommerville for transporting 70,000 leaflets and newspapers to all the coordinators.

Jon Mills (plus Tim Dant and Paul Tynan) who coordinated getting ‘Vote Green’ signboards erected in nearly 100 front gardens/yards (bringing smiles to all our supporters as they travel around!). They will now organise getting them stored for re-use in next year’s County Council elections. If you have one please keep it somewhere safe until we are able to get it from you.A HUGE thankyou to everyone who voted Green.

The post General Election Results appeared first on North Lancashire Green Party.

Natalie’s visit started with an evening on Tuesday at the Herbarium Bar on Great John’s Street. Unfortunately Natalie’s train was delayed, but a good time was had by all while we waited, having a drink, a chat, and getting stuck in to stuffing envelopes for the campaign to elect Jack Lenox in Lancaster and Wyre! 

Jack Lenox joined us shortly before Natalie to give us a campaign update, including the fantastic news that from canvassing, things are looking very close in Lancaster and Wyre.

Jack said “We have our work cut out to close the gap, but we are within range of doing this!ck had been over at St Thomas’s Church where the main Lancaster hustings had been organised by Lancaster Churches Together. Unfortunately, the Conservative candidate let the organisers know he was not able to attend that afternoon, and did not arrange a substitute. The Labour Candidate was then told by her party not to turn up if there was no Conservative candidate there. After which the Libdem candidate also pulled out.

The organisers confirmed the event was cancelled just shortly before it was due to begin, when Jack and the attendees were already en route to the Church, so he joined them to speak with anyone who wanted to ask him questions or tell him their concerns, which got a cheer from the disappointed crowd! 

Natalie swept into the room to a big cheer, and went straight into an inspiring talk about her holistic, hopeful and practical vision for the future as explored in her recently published book, “Change Everything: How We Can Rethink, Repair and Rebuild Society”.

Afterwards, there was a cue of people to chat to Natalie and buy her book – Natalie said she sold more books here in Lancaster than at any of the similar events. 

Jack said:

“It was an absolute pleasure to host former Green Party leader and peer in the House of Lords, Natalie Bennett. Natalie is an outstanding champion of Green politics, and of dismantling our broken political system to rebuild something much better. She was the leader when I joined the party back in 2015, and it has been a real pleasure getting to know her in my role as Culture Spokesperson over the past few years.”

The following day, Natalie joined Gina Dowding on the campaign trail in Morecambe.

Natalie said: “Great to join Gina in glorious sunshine, with a national icon!”

Their time in Morecambe included Jack joining them for a visit to Morecambe Football Club to talk about football regulation. 

Natalie said: “Great meeting this morning with Gina Dowding, Green candidate for Morecambe & Lunesdale, and Jack Lenox for Lancaster & Wyre – who is also Green Spokesperson on Culture, Media & Sport – with Morecambe FC reps, talking need for a regulator with real teeth through the Football Governance Bill.

GIna added: “I am determined to help push forward with the Football Governance Bill – whatever the result of the General Election. It’s about fairness for fans, and sustainability of clubs. Grassroots football clubs key part of communities – esp here in Morecambe.

It needs to be said that ⁦Morecambe FC⁩ has a fantastic group of (volunteer) people on the board and trust fighting the corner for the club and fans. They made us very welcome … and we came away inspired.”

Finally, Gina, Jack and Natalie met with Councillor Tom Fish and Maria Deery, our candidate for the by-election for University Ward happening on the same day as the General Election. 

Tom and Maria have both been heavily involved in the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on campus and the protests against University complicity with what is happening in Gaza, through its links to arms manufacturer BAE systems. It is Green Policy to halt arms sales to Israel. 

In addition to her support for the encampment and its demands, Maria is campaigning on improved mental health services for students, and more support through the cost of living crisis, making campus more safe and welcoming, and holding the university accountable for their net zero pledges.

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