General Election 2017: A brief summary in Oxfordshire

By Matt Ledbury and David Newman

This General Election was unlike any other in living memory: it was unexpected, just two years after the last one, and looked set to produce an overwhelming Conservative victory. In the event the final result took nearly everyone by surprise: it clearly demonstrated that there are few certainties left in politics now.

General Election 2017: A brief summary in Oxfordshire 

By Matt Ledbury and David Newman

This General Election was unlike any other in living memory: it was unexpected, just two years after the last one, and looked set to produce an overwhelming Conservative victory. In the event the final result took nearly everyone by surprise: it clearly demonstrated that there are few certainties left in politics now.

Background

From an Oxfordshire Green Party perspective, the General Election was a very tough challenge. In 2015 we had plenty of time to prepare for the campaign, and thanks to a generous national donor for the first time could pay people to manage the campaign and volunteers in Oxford East. This year, we didn't have any time to prepare or run much of a campaign. The General Election was announced while we were still campaigning for the county council elections; we rapidly selected candidates for the six Oxfordshire constituencies, organised Freepost leaflets and deposits, voter communication channels and volunteers. We raised £4500 through donations for the general election campaign, but spent £6000 alone on deposits and printing Freepost leaflets, so we had to use our reserves. Nevertheless, we managed to better organise our campaigns, and test innovations we can use in future campaigns when we have more time.

Results

Due to the surge in Labour support in particular, the Green vote was squeezed in Oxfordshire as across the country, and our vote was down everywhere compared to 2015. One point of success we can claim though is in Oxford West and Abingdon, after the Liberal Democrats responded to our open offer to consider cooperating where there was a chance of displacing a sitting Conservative MP. After agreeing plans to cooperate better in local elections, a meeting of Green Party members from the constituency approved the proposal to stand aside and recommended that supporters back Layla Moran. Some Green supporters campaigned for Layla Moran in Oxford West and Abingdon, and for Green Party candidates in Oxford East, Henley and Wantage (sometimes on the same day!). Layla Moran’s winning margin was just 816 votes; and we now have a green-minded LibDem MP rather than a Conservative, who is very aware that Green support was crucial in her being elected. This has given us a useful ally in Parliament and some leverage that we just would not have had otherwise.

Conclusion

Overall, as many previously Green voters decided to give their vote to Labour this time (the party’s share of the national vote declined from 3.8% in 2015 to 1.6%) this was not an election where the party can be said to have progressed. But the need for the Green Party is not going to go away: while it is heartening to see Labour (and the Liberal Democrats) adopt some of the policy stances of the Greens, in other areas they remain very far away from a vision of a truly sustainable society. Voters have shown themselves increasingly prepared to be flexible and consider carefully the most effective way to use their vote. The need for an environmentally sustainable, socially just, peaceful and democratic world remains as important as ever; other parties will never fully embrace it, and if we continue to make the case, our electoral support will in time rise again.