This post will analyse the performance of the Green Party in England, Wales and Scotland during the 2017 General Election. In addition, the ‘Progressive Alliance’ (PA) will be considered.
Overall United Kingdom Votes
- 2015: 1,157,613 (3.8%)
- 2017: 525,371 (1.6%)
- Change -632,242
Share of vote in each seat – 2015 vs 2017
The mean Green vote share per seat fought were as follows:
- 2015 – 4.18 %
- 2017 – 2.15 %
Deposits saved
Brighton Pavillion
Caroline Lucas increased the majority in her seat, the only Green seat in the UK:
Seats where the Green vote was larger than the Conservative majority over Labour
Seats where the Greens stood down, where the margin of victory of the party that gained the seat from the Conservatives was smaller than the Green vote in 2015
Conclusions
- The 2017 GE was catastrophic for the Green party with a lower vote share, more lost deposits and large set back from the progress made in 2015.
- The only bright spot for the Green Party directly was the increase in majority of Caroline Lucas.
- If the objective of standing down was to enable other parties to beat the Conservatives, it failed, as only one seat can be said to have been won from the Conservatives because of the Greens not standing.
- If the objective of standing down was to enable a coordinated attack to remove the Conservatives, the Greens standing in other seats probably contributed to preventing Labour take five extra Conservative seats, and reducing their majority by ten.
- The 2017 General Election failed a) to increase the Green presence in Parliament and raise it’s profile nationally and b) really target the Conservatives if the progressive alliance was important.
Political Statistics 