Greens ahead in Brighton

Who says that a Green vote is a wasted vote? News just in from Brighton shows that Caroline Lucas is on course to make history and become the first Green MP. With a tired New Labour regime and a Tory party champing at the bit to carry out 'Thatcherism Mark II' the only progressive alternative vote is for the Greens in Brighton.

Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader, only candidate able to keep the Conservatives out in Brighton Pavilion constituency

- UK’s first Green MP now a serious prospect - ICM constituency poll

Greens take a 10 point lead over Labour and an 8 point lead over the Conservatives in their target constituency of Brighton Pavilion - ICM Research telephone opinion poll.

Headline results

1. The Greens have the greatest support with 35% of the constituency’s voters followed by the Conservatives on 27%, Labour on 25% and LibDems on 11%.

2. Almost two thirds (63%) of Labour and Lib Dem voters in the sample said that they would be likely to switch their vote to the Greens if that party was best placed to stop a Conservative win. 37% said they were very likely and 26% said they were quite likely to switch their vote in that situation.

Read the full story here.

Greens push for more park land

The Green Party is pushing for extra green space to make up for the land being lost by the changes to the junction at the bottom of Brockwell Park.

Following a motion proposed by Councillor Becca Thackray, the council is looking into the possibility of buying the Vicarage Garden on Dulwich Road, land which could easily be annexed to the park.

It's certainly not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that the Council has committed to showing an interest is a great step.

We've already heard lots of creative ideas for how the garden could be used if it does become part of the park, e.g. as a community allotment or a nature reserve. Let us know you what you think.

More hot air from Lambeth Labour

Lambeth Council needs to clean up its act to meet its own environment targets.

It’s almost two years since the Council agreed a plan to reduce its energy consumption but we’ve seen very little action so far.

Herne Hill's Green Party councillor, Becca Thackray, was part of the all-party Climate Change Commission that produced 45 urgent recommendations in 2007. Two years on and some of these recommendations still haven’t even been touched.

Progress on domestic insulation has been desperately slow, there’s still no council-run recycling for businesses and the inefficient Town Hall heating system is stuck in the dark ages.

At a time when thousands of people are losing their jobs, it is unforgivable that the Labour are failing to invest seriously in energy efficiency and launch a clean energy revolution that could provide hundreds of thousands of new jobs.