The Future Holds Hope
How will the 2024 general election be remembered, if at all? For some, there is a resounding feeling of karma witnessing the Conservative Party’s rule finally being brought to an end, after 14 years of chaos and corruption. For others, there is a reserved feeling of relief and a sceptical outlook on whether this ‘changed’ Labour Party will address the burning issues in society. Newly elected Reform MPs are sure to try and make immigration the number one topic in parliament, and breakthrough Independent MPs may look to build wider movements to continue to disturb the two-party system.
As for the Green Party, the success was likely underplayed by the media, but was seismic. There are now 4 Green MPs, spread across the country in Brighton, Bristol, Waveney Valley and North Herefordshire. Across the country, the Green Party secured nearly 2 million votes almost doubling its previous record set back in 2015. Not to mention, a wide range of seats which the Green Party placed 2nd place in, making them candidates for even larger campaigns in years to come to secure more Green MPs. This achievement has set a new foundation to be built upon, one which holds enormous hope for the future.
Here in Medway, we have also set new heights despite the short election timeframe. For the first time, we were able to secure over 5% of the vote across Rochester & Strood, Chatham & Aylesford, and Gillingham & Rainham. The significance of this is that we were able to hold onto our deposits which allows us to build towards a more effective and strategic campaign. We have overtaken the Liberal Democrats across all 3 seats too, solidifying our status as the 3rd strongest party in Medway, of those that participate in local and general elections.
We owe a big thank you to everybody who voted, joined, supported or donated to our campaign efforts. Of course, none of it would’ve been possible without the tireless commitments from our candidates who went over and beyond expectations to be visible and respondent to residents.
To conclude, how will this general election be remembered? It probably won’t. It was fairly quick, disinteresting, no key policies were on the line and it returned one of the lowest voter turnouts in history. However, that’s not to say this election wasn’t significant, and as time ticks on we will begin to see whether this election was a key turning point for real hope and real change.
For now, we’ll have to hold this Labour government to account, and with 3 new Labour MPs in Medway, as well as a Labour-run Council, you can be sure we won’t accept excuses. After all, we’ve all been promised ‘change’.