Baptism of Fire.

29,878 votes against Labour and 9,204 votes against Conservative? That's a lot of hate!!


Green 1,014
Labour 9,204
UKIP 2,508
CONservatives 29,878
Lib Dems 12,581


Disappointing, I admit, but watching the analysis of the whole thing from a national point of view, not surprising.

The general consensus, talking to people on the doorstep and in the street, was that no-one voted Conservative, they voted against Labour, and no-one voted for Labour, they voted against Conservative.

Taken in this context, 1014 votes for the Green Party in Ashford is not a bad result! 1014 votes for a hippy in a cheap suit is, actually, fantastic.

Three of us, Chris Took, Jeffery Elenor and myself, walked from the count with our heads held high.

The annoying thing is that, policy wise, we could have walked it. VoteForPolicies showed that the Green Party have the manifesto the people want, and the candidates you can actually trust. With people voting for what they wanted instead of against what they didn't want, The Green Party could have won a lot more seats.

But Caroline Lucas becoming the first Green MP in Britain? Some you win, some you lose, and this time we won! From a historical and global point of view this was an essential result and, while we can all celebrate and pat ourselves on the back because we knew it had to happen, we must not forget why this had to happen. It's not about The Green Party, or Caroline, or some hippy in a cheap suit, it's about the environment, equality, animals, human rights and the future of the planet.

Caroline started off as an animal rights activist and CND campaigner in a Tory safe seat, and on Thursday she took that seat away from Labour, and she is probably the only candidate in the country that can say that every single vote she received was for her.

So now what? It's looking likely that we will have another election in a year or so, and in Ashford we've got the local elections next year, and Ashford Green Party will be there. In the meantime we've got a Green MP actually making a difference in the House of Commons. The future's looking good. Fair is worth fighting for, and the fight continues.