Thank you for voting Green!

In the end, Telegraph Hill was taken by Labour candidates Paul Bell, Joan Millbank and Dan Whittle, as part of a wider Labour landslide across Lewisham and the rest of inner London. Greens and the other smaller parties were squeezed by the general election on the same day, particularly given the current political climate with the national media framing the election as a choice between the two or three biggest parties.

Despite this pressure, the Green Party suceeded in having Caroline Lucas elected as the first Green MP, for Brighton Pavillion. This is an historic achievment, all the more remarkable given that the current electoral system is expressly designed to keep out smaller, younger parties.

Here in Telegraph Hill we fought a great campaign, effectively doubling the Green vote and closing the gap between ourselves and the Socialists, who have lost their seats on Lewisham council. This is a fantastic gain, placing us in a very strong position to contest future elections.

On behalf of the Telegraph Hill Green Team and the Lewisham Green Party, I'd like to thank everyone who voted for us and especially give my thanks to all those activists who came out to support our campaign work.

Everything to play for in Telegraph Hill:

We're getting an encouraging response from voters as we enter election week, with more and more people telling us that they're planning to vote Green!

It's great that all our hard work in Telegraph Hill and across Lewisham is starting to pay off, and Priscilla, Bill and myself contemplate the possibility of joining the Green group on Lewisham Council and representing the people of Telegraph Hill.

The election isn't over yet, though, with none of the parties contesting Telegraph Hill ready to claim an early victory.

Green Cllr. Darren Johnson is mounting the strongest opposition yet against Joan Ruddock in the bid to be Lewisham Deptford MP, with Dean Walton standing as our Mayoral candidate.

For seats on Council it's a three-way race between Greens, Labour and the Socialists.

The Socialists don't seem to be getting as strong a response as they did last time, putting in doubt their bid to retain Council seats. Meanwhile, life-long Labour supporters look set to stay at home in droves after the wars, scandals and disappointments of recent years. The Lib Dems don't seem to be doing much in Telegraph Hill, and the Tories probably never will.

That leaves the Greens as the only party who look to be making significant gains in Telegraph Hill. Whether we win or not on May 6th (and we do intend to win), we're already seeing a very positive increase in our share of the vote. Again, this election will be close and any party that thinks they've got Telegraph Hill 'in the bag' is fooling themselves.

Whatever the outcome of the local elections, one thing is certain; with Labour's Cllr. Robin Cross standing down, Telegraph Hill WILL have a new team of councillors this time next week...

THERE'S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO VOTE GREEN!