26 May 2014
The Green Party has missed out on gaining its first seat for the North West in the European Parliament. The Green Party gained a 7% share of the vote in the North West, finishing ahead of the Lib Dems who gained 6%.
The Green Party's lead candidate in the North West, Peter Cranie, said: "Despite great success in the local elections on Thursday across the region, our solid share of the vote has not been enough to win us a seat in the European Parliament."
"We achieved great local elections results, winning new seats in councils in Liverpool, Wirral and Lancaster. Across both Manchester and Liverpool we received the second highest vote share in the local elections. We'll be building on this success in future elections. Across the region we've seen a stunning rise in membership, with hundreds of people joining us during the campaign."
"During the European election campaign the media was dominated by UKIP. The decision by Ofcom to recognise UKIP as a major party put us at an unfair disadvantage. In the last few weeks of the campaign, once people heard about our policies, we gained their support, but it wasn't enough to make up for UKIP's media saturation."
Commenting on the defeat of Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP, Peter Cranie said: "Five years of Nick Griffin has been five years too long. Voters in the North West have outrightly rejected the appalling policies of the BNP by removing Nick Griffin from the European parliament. However the scapegoating of minorities that UKIP has traded on in this election is a new challenge. The Greens will continue to work for positive, practical solutions to tackle the issues people are facing in their lives, such as low wages, poor housing and pressure on public services."
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