3rd June 2009

The Green surge continues - Latest poll puts Greens in battle for third position on 15% - with just 14% needed for a second Green MEP for the South East.

Caroline Lucas, who has served as an MEP for the region for the past decade would be re-elected with 7.9% of the vote, and Cllr Keith Taylor, a former Green principal speaker and number two on the Euro candidate list, will join her if 14% vote Green.

A poll to be published the day before the European elections suggests that nationally the battle for third place will be between the Green Party, the LibDems and UKIP.

The poll, conducted by ComRes (1), shows the Greens have overtaken the LibDems for the first time since 1989 and suggests Greens may be about to match their historic 1989 Euro-election vote of 15%.

Keith Taylor said, "It shows just how important every single Green vote is in these elections. Our manifesto pledge of 140 thousand jobs for the South East and a million nationally, aimed at tackling the recession and the climate crisis at the same time, seems to be striking a chord with a lot of people.".

The poll shows support for the different parties as follows:

Conservative: 24%
Labour: 22%
UKIP: 17%
Green: 15%
Lib Dems: 14%
BNP 2%

Last Sunday's Telegraph/ICM poll showed the Greens on 11%, ahead of UKIP nationally for the first time in the campaign. The Sunday Telegraph suggested that "the resurgent Greens" might win eight seats.

And in an earlier Green Party/YouGov poll, 34% of respondents said they would either definitely vote Green or consider voting Green if they knew more about the party.

1. Commissioned by the Green Party. Fieldwork carried out 29-31 May 2009. Sample size 1,005 GB adults, polled by telephone.