Greens battle for third place - new poll

Mark Thomas with candidate Steve Barnard, Sheffield, and Cllr Jillian Creasy, leader of the Green group on Sheffield City Council.

Earlier in the day Mark played croquet on the lawn at the house of expenses MP Julie Kirkbride in Bromgrove !

Greens on 15% overtake LibDems

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

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

The poll shows support for the different parties as follows:

Conservative: 24%

Labour: 22%

UKIP: 17%

Green: 15%

Lib Dems: 14%

BNP 2%

If the poll proves accurate, the Greens will probably win seats in the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, East Midlands, South West and Eastern regions plus Scotland, as well as holding existing seats in London and the South East.

The Greens may even scoop up a second seat in the South East, with Brighton councillor Keith Taylor joining party leader Caroline Lucas who was first elected in 1999.

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.

So get to know more about the party here! 

* Green Party policies *

Note to editors:

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

Your Candidates For Parliament

Andy Chase, City of York

Cllr. Jillian Creasy, Sheffield

Cllr. David Blackburn, Leeds West

Martin Hemingway, Leeds

Cllr. Dilys Cluer, Scarborough & Whitby

Shan Oakes, Beverley

Bill Rigby, Beverley & Holderness

Mike Jackson, East Yorkshire

Martin Deane, Hull North

Miriam Hawkins, Wakefield