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For 14 years, Caroline Lucas has been the only Green Party candidate elected to Parliament. On Thursday night, the party quadrupled its number in the House of Commons, electing a historic four new members.
The seat of Brighton Pavilion was defended by the Green Party, with new MP Sian Berry replacing the outgoing Councillor Lucas, and the party gained three further seats, winning Bristol West from Labour and Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire from the Conservatives.
It was the coalition’s most successful election night in history, winning old strongholds across the political spectrum, more than doubling its vote share nationwide.
Party insiders say the success has been a long journey, with the party working hard in these constituencies for several years and making a concerted effort to use local elections to grow its support.
And although candidates were fielded from all over the country, almost all of the campaigning was focused on four target seats.
Party insiders now suggest the party plans to pursue this strategy ahead of the next set of local elections and then the next general election, focusing on several constituencies where the Greens came second – many in London.
Ellie Chowns, the new MP for North Herefordshire, has jumped from fourth place in 2019 to first place this time.
“The Green Party has been growing in power in the constituency for a long time and has increased the number of Green councillors at every election.”
“In 2019 we came fourth but it was arguably the highest Green vote share in England in a constituency with four main parties. We knew this was our strength, we knew we had our base here,” she said. I.
The challenge for the party now is to balance the rural vote of former Conservative supporters in Herefordshire and Suffol with the more left-leaning urban voters of Bristol and Brighton.
The party has grown out of being dominated by young people and radicals, but members recognise that its policies on protecting nature and the environment, such as cleaning up rivers, and strengthening its local presence, have universal appeal.
And Chones argued that support for the Greens was driven by a perception that other mainstream parties lacked ideals.
“We’ve shown that we can win votes not only from formally conservative people, but also from more urban areas and younger generations,” she said.
“They want someone they can trust to work for them, someone they trust is motivated by genuine political values. They’re not joining the Green Party because they want to rise to power.”
She said there were “core values” and “common ground” in caring for nature, climate, public services and local economies, all of which the Green Party has promoted.
“I’ve heard door-to-door here that people feel like their vote is taken for granted and are very disillusioned with politics,” she added, arguing that “it could really chip away at people’s trust in things they once found comforting.”
Co-leader Adrian Ramsay, who represents Waveney Valley, said he and other Greens would use their seats in the House of Commons to pressure the New Labour government to take bold action.
Mr Ramsay said it was “incredible” that the Conservatives had overturned a majority of 22,000 votes in Suffolk by a margin of more than 30 per cent.
“I’ve been absolutely thrilled by the level of support we’ve seen from the public,” he told BBC News, saying Labour leader and incoming Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had been “a little cautious” about some of the policies that had led voters to the Greens.
“People are not very impressed with the Labour Party and are looking to other parties,” he claimed.
Mr Ramsay added: “People have responded incredibly positively to us putting forward a hopeful vision for a future where people have local councillors acting to represent them.”
“But where there are Greens in Parliament, we need to encourage the new government to be bolder, whether that’s restoring public services or on the environment.”
Mr Ramsay’s co-leader Carla Denier was elected in Bristol West, ousting Labour stalwart Thangam Devonaire, who had been expected to become a cabinet minister in the new government.
Denier, a former city council member and runner-up in the 2019 election, said Bristol had “made history” by endorsing him.
Berry, the new Brighton Pavilion MP, said the party “set very high goals for this election and we have achieved everything we set out to do”.
“There has been a change of government but things aren’t going to change much unless we can get some of the ideas in our manifesto into Labour policy, and we’re working on that,” she added.
The lawmakers said they would work together in the House of Representatives to promote greater cooperation in areas of common ground and to move away from polarised politics.
And they have pledged to support Labour’s plans to build more homes, as long as they are “green homes” and benefit the communities in which they are built.