Recipe for success

“If we can continue to speak up and fight for these real Green values away from the narrow and exclusive focus on identity politics then we stand some chance of retaining voters, not driving them away”.

Those of you who do not live in the glorious South West region may not have come across the detailed results of the recent Somerton and Frome by-election. This was the seat that the LibDems took from the Conservatives after David Warburton finally stood down as the MP having been absent from Parliament for 14 months. He was cleared of accusations of sexual misconduct but admitted taking cocaine so it was highly likely that the Tories would not retain the seat.

The South West has always been something of a LibDem stronghold but their coalition with the Tories under Cameron and Clegg saw them pay the price in the 2015 General Election  when they lost all their SW seats. However the LiDems did not secure as many votes as might have been expected. Sure, they had a handsome vote share of 54.6%  with 21,187  votes but the Greens had a 10.2% share with 3,944  votes.

This was down to a number of factors – Greens in local government, a strong campaign team and an outstanding and well-respected local candidate, Martin Dimery. Martin has lived and worked in Frome for over 40 years. He is a former teacher and leader of the Cheese and Grain Frome Festival. In 2017 he became one of the first Green Party candidates elected to Somerset County Council. He was elected again in 2022 with 51% of the vote. Martin is now Leader of the expanded Green Group of five councillors and Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee.

With strong local candidates aware of the positives and negatives of their area and with sensible well-thought out policies then we can make real progress to further parliamentary seats. Martin is already working on social issues at the grass roots level with planning and housing and health funding.  Voters have seen him stand up for them at local level and can trust him to do that in Parliament.

We have many good candidates like Martin who represent the best of Green values and work for all members of society. If we can continue to speak up and fight for these real Green values away from the narrow and exclusive focus on identity politics then we stand some chance of retaining voters, not driving them away.